Halloween should be a public holiday.

Patser · 13-08-2015 02:24PM #1

So Halloween, the best of all traditional festivals, falls on a Friday this year, perfect chance for a Long Weekend of Celebrations.

Except the holiday associated with it is the previous Monday. Why? Just so people can have a generic long weekend with nothing particularly special about it! You wouldn't see Paddy's Day skipped over in favour of a rainy March Monday, and that's celebrating a Welsh blow in.

Halloween is the perfect excuse for a holiday. It falls midway between Summer breaks and Christmas. It's one of the few global events we can claim as Irish originally. It's a day perfrct for parents to spend with their young kids making costumes, planning tricks, telling stories of ghosts and magic and mostly getting tonnes of sweets.

For older kids to spend building huge fires, getting illegal fireworks and underage drinking. So a normal weekend but now formalised as tradition.

For people to reminisce on lost love ones - originally it was a festival partly to honour/fear your ancestors - before going to a primal instinct engaging big fecking fire and working on creating the next generation.

Thousands of years of tradition of fire, explosions, food, drink, drugs, costumes, shagging, fun and chaos. Replaced by tired parents coming home from work, to rush small kids in shop bought costumes around a few houses before dinner. Of councils saying bonfires are a bit risky, how about we give you daffodil bulbs instead. No primal Fire!! Instead daffodils, it's the bloody Welsh again.

Make it a proper holiday! Make it s national festival. Give us the day off!!!

I'm rostered late shift......

ancapailldorcha · 13-08-2015 02:24PM

It is a public holiday.

Timberrrrrrrr · 13-08-2015 02:25PM

It should be banned.

smash · 13-08-2015 02:26PM

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

It should be banned.

No way. It gives women the opportunity to dress as slutty as they want and I for one, am all in favor of that concept!

Nodin · 13-08-2015 02:27PM

Timberrrrrrrr wrote: »

It should be banned.

...and happy Christmas to you too.

Heisenberg1 · 13-08-2015 02:28PM

OP Halloween falls on a Saturday this year not a Friday.

Timberrrrrrrr · 13-08-2015 02:28PM

Nodin wrote: »

...and happy Christmas to you too.

BAH HUMBUG!!! *shakes fist*

Shenshen · 13-08-2015 02:30PM

Wouldn't it make more sense to have the day after Halloween as a day off? Nobody is going to go to a Halloween party at 11am, after all, surely?
You'd be better off with a day afterwards to get over the hangover.

Patser · 13-08-2015 02:32PM

Heisenberg1 wrote: »

OP Halloween falls on a Saturday this year not a Friday.

Well that's my rant scuppered. Good news for me though.

Maybe it's a flashback to last year.

Still stand by my ideas.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 13-08-2015 03:31PM

Patser wrote: »

Still stand by my ideas.

What? That we have a public holiday for Halloween regardless of the day of the week? What a waste when it's Saturday or Sunday.

The Backwards Man · 13-08-2015 03:36PM

The October bank holiday has fcuk all to do with Halloween, it's just a coincidence it falls around that time.

Halloween should be banned, out else strictly celebrated behind closed doors. We have enough people acting the cnut every day of the week without making a national celebration of it.

Patser · 13-08-2015 03:37PM

Layla Spicy Raceway wrote: »

What? That we have a public holiday for Halloween regardless of the day of the week? What a waste when it's Saturday or Sunday.

Pass it onto Monday in those cases, same as with Paddy's Day or Christmas.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 13-08-2015 03:38PM

Patser wrote: »

Pass it onto Monday in those cases, same as with Paddy's Day or Christmas.

But we have a Monday bank holiday that week anyway and the OP seems to have an issue with that concept.

biko · 13-08-2015 03:39PM

I haven't thought about it, and don't intend to think about it until 1st October.

granturismo · 13-08-2015 03:40PM

Patser wrote: »

...! You wouldn't see Paddy's Day skipped over in favour of a rainy March Monday, and that's celebrating a Welsh blow in.

Halloween is the perfect excuse for a holiday. It falls midway between Summer breaks and Christmas. It's one of the few global events we can claim as Irish originally. ...

I cannot support a campaign for a public holiday that demotes our national day to 'Paddy's Day'.

Patser · 13-08-2015 03:41PM

The Backwards Man wrote: »

The October bank holiday has fcuk all to do with Halloween, it's just a coincidence it falls around that time.

Halloween should be banned, out else strictly celebrated behind closed doors. We have enough people acting the cnut every day of the week without making a national celebration of it.

Purely coincidental that a holiday falls within a week of a well known celebration?

If you normalise it, make it larger with more national participation particularly amongst adults (and parents), that'll also lead to more responsible people being on site to moderate the cnuts, that you've already conceded defeat to.

The_Valeyard · 13-08-2015 03:45PM

SHADOW]
Boys and girls of every age
Wouldn't you like to see something strange?

[SIAMESE SHADOW]
Come with us and you will see
This, our town of Halloween

[PUMPKIN PATCH CHORUS]
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Pumpkins scream in the dead of night

[GHOSTS]
This is Halloween, everybody make a scene
Trick or treat till the neighbors gonna die of fright
It's our town, everybody scream
In this town of Halloween

[CREATURE UNDER THE BED]
I am the one hiding under your bed
Teeth ground sharp and eyes glowing red

[MAN UNDER THE STAIRS]
I am the one hiding under your stairs
Fingers like snakes and spiders in my hair

[CORPSE CHORUS]
This is Halloween, this is Halloween

[VAMPIRES]
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song

[MAYOR]
In this town, don't we love it now?
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise

[CORPSE CHORUS]
Round that corner, man hiding in the trash can
Something's waiting to pounce, and how you'll...

[HARLEQUIN DEMON, WEREWOLF & MELTING MAN]
Scream! This is Halloween
Red 'n' black, slimy green

[WEREWOLF]
Aren't you scared?

[WITCHES]
Well, that's just fine
Say it once, say it twice
Take a chance and roll the dice
Ride with the moon in the dead of night

[HANGING TREE]
Everybody scream, everybody scream!!!!

[HANGED MEN]
In our town of Halloween!

[CLOWN]
I am the clown with the tear-away face
Here in a flash and gone without a trace!

[SECOND GHOUL]
I am the "who" when you call, "Who's there?"
I am the wind blowing through your hair

[OOGIE BOOGIE SHADOW]
I am the shadow on the moon at night
Filling your dreams to the brim with fright

[CORPSE CHORUS]
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!
Halloween! Halloween!

[CHILD CORPSE TRIO]
Tender lumplings everywhere
Life's no fun without a good scare

[PARENT CORPSES]
That's our job, but we're not mean
In our town of Halloween

[CORPSE CHORUS]
In this town

[MAYOR]
Don't we love it now?
Everybody's waiting for the next surprise

[CORPSE CHORUS]
Skelleton Jack might catch you in the back
And scream like a banshee
Make you jump out of your skin
This is Halloween, everybody scream
Wont' ya please make way for a very special guy

Our man Jack is King of the Pumpkin patch
Everyone hail to the Pumpkin King!

[EVERYONE]
This is Halloween, this is Halloween
Halloween! Halloween! Halloween! Halloween!

[CORPSE CHILD TRIO]
In this town we call home
Everyone hail to the pumpkin song

[EVERYONE]
La la-la la, Halloween! Halloween! [Repeat Again]

Patser · 13-08-2015 03:45PM

Layla Spicy Raceway wrote: »

But we have a Monday bank holiday that week anyway and the OP seems to have an issue with that concept.

This year the bank holiday Monday will be at the start of the week prior to Halloween, so 6 days separation.

Potatoeman · 13-08-2015 03:51PM

Patser wrote: »

I'm rostered late shift......

That's a very organised snog.

Buona Fortuna · 13-08-2015 04:05PM

Call me old grumpy stick in the mud, but isn't Halloween for kids?

A few marshmellows, costume from Lidl and a bit of face-painting in Dunnes.

Early night all round.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 13-08-2015 04:55PM

Patser wrote: »

This year the bank holiday Monday will be at the start of the week prior to Halloween, so 6 days separation.

Last time I checked, 6 days was still less than a week.

Patser · 13-08-2015 04:57PM

Layla Spicy Raceway wrote: »

Last time I checked, 6 days was still less than a week.

Hard to celebrate something one weekend that's happening the next. No different than saying let's roll New Year's into Christmas Day, only 6 days anyway.

ytpe2r5bxkn0c1 · 13-08-2015 05:53PM

Patser wrote: »

Hard to celebrate something one weekend that's happening the next. No different than saying let's roll New Year's into Christmas Day, only 6 days anyway.

Fair enough so. Feel free to celebrate on Saturday this year. Halloween is for kids so just leave them to it. It's a nighttime activity based celebration anyway. Having the day off makes no sense.

Patser · 13-08-2015 06:50PM

Layla Spicy Raceway wrote: »

Fair enough so. Feel free to celebrate on Saturday this year. Halloween is for kids so just leave them to it. It's a nighttime activity based celebration anyway. Having the day off makes no sense.

Small kids like my 1, tend to go out just at sunset, which at that time of year (especially just after the clocks gain an hour) is around 5pm. So if you're on any sort of regular work hours, you'll already be running late getting home. If you work shift like me, you might miss the whole thing.

And as per my op. Having a day off makes it more of a family thing, preparing costumes, having a chance for properly organised events etc. Derry does this brilliantly, that whole city goes mad for Halloween. Events all around it, culminating in a parade and fireworks.

Down here it's ignored as a child's thing, or conceded to gits acting the git in the nighttime.

Imagine if St Patrick's Day (happy now lads) wasn't a day off. There'd be no parades or attempts at festivals. Just drunks in the evening, probably a similar demographic to what you see on Halloween.

Make it a holiday. Make it for families in the daytime and evening, and celebrants of all sorts in the night - having everyone out will dilute the git ratio.
Bring in tourism at a traditionally quiet time of the year.
It's ours claim it. It's something we all grew up with, but is now being sanitised and Americanised. Make it villages meeting at bonfires, happily dressed up for fun (especially the kids), with music and stories. And before someone says something smart I'm not Peig Sayers harking back, I'm from Tallaght and not yet 40.

InTheTrees · 14-08-2015 01:39AM

Its my Birthday.

So its really annoying when some other day is used. I mean we dont do that with christmas. celebrate it on the nearest saturday?? ffs.

Grrr.

:mad:

Zaph · 14-08-2015 01:58AM

Halloween is a pain in the arse. It's bad enough that it exists without making it an official holiday.

kneemos · 14-08-2015 03:01AM

Do people say happy Halloween?
It can't be a holiday unless there's a happy prefix.

fatknacker · 14-08-2015 03:15AM

Shenshen wrote: »

Wouldn't it make more sense to have the day after Halloween as a day off? Nobody is going to go to a Halloween party at 11am, after all, surely?
You'd be better off with a day afterwards to get over the hangover.

You're right, we should get TWO days off!

fatknacker · 14-08-2015 03:18AM

At least if it's a public holiday then the fire brigade will get paid more.

corner of hells · 14-08-2015 03:48AM

fatknacker wrote: »

At least if it's a public holiday then the fire brigade will get paid more.

Halloween night should be the one night the fire brigade should have off .

Think about the amount of idiot's who would manage to kill themselves off if the fire brigade weren't around. Society should benefit tenfold.

Nodin · 14-08-2015 04:42AM

Buona Fortuna wrote: »

Call me old grumpy stick in the mud, but isn't Halloween for kids?

...............

....yeah, drunken arson requires younger legs than I have, it has to be said.

Two years ago - loads of kids around. Last year, made sure I'd enough stuff to give out, and not a single one appeared. And yes, I was wearing clothes the previous year when I answered the door.

Halloween should be a public holiday.

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