Talk:Halloween

Halloween in 2001

I remember in 2001 many communities cancelled Halloween activities and tried to ban the holiday, at least temporarily, since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 less than two months earlier were fresh in everyone's mind. This article could have more information on this. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 67.119.14.165 (talk) 16:36, 11 June 2012 (UTC)

Images Cleanup

At a glance the images need some work, the layout could be improved. The images especially the gallery is repetitive and doesn't follow the image galleries guidance. I will leave it here for discussion, but I am gonna start chipping away at this.--0pen$0urce (talk) 20:48, 6 September 2012 (UTC)

Irish name?

In Gaelic, the festival is called Oíche Shamhna ("the Night of Samhain"), Samhain being the month of November that follows immediately thereupon. Given the origins of the festival (as already discussed in the article), shouldn't we mention the Modern Irish name somewhere in the article itself? elvenscout742 (talk) 02:20, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Holiday ?

The text in a number of places (e.g. multiple times in paragraph three) refers to Halloween as a "holiday" but of course "holiday" means "holy day" and Halloween has never ever been a holy day. More of an anti-holy day. Also it is not a vacation day (which for some is the new meaning of "holiday") so again the word "holiday" does not fit. Could we change the text to refer to Halloween as a "festival" ? Mrdavenport (talk) 15:12, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Maybe commemoration, rather than festival? HiLo48 (talk) 16:47, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

I would like to see the word holiday removed from ALL articles where it's use in that form is NOT universal across all places that speak English. That would include Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Valentines Day, etc. HiLo48 (talk) 16:45, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Being away from work is THE meaning of holiday in Australia and many other places, not the new meaning. (And it's a mistake to use the word vacation as part of the definition. That word is not normally used in Australia anyway.) HiLo48 (talk) 16:45, 17 October 2012 (UTC)

Etymologically speaking "holiday" may have once meant "holy day", and that may have been used exclusively to refer to Christian holy days, but it is not its most common meaning in everyday English. Should we also remove "holiday" from The Emperor's Birthday? elvenscout742 (talk) 01:22, 18 October 2012 (UTC)

Why don't you think it is a holy day? As the article also mentions, it is the evening before All Saints' Day, so there would be prayer vigils and (at least earlier) the practice of souling. Sounds holy enough to me. --Lanfranc (talk) 22:12, 21 October 2012 (UTC)

Because nobody participating in normal Halloween activities is doing it as a holy activity. HiLo48 (talk) 02:47, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

There are plenty of places that are holding church services and/or prayer vigils on Halloween, as the article also mentions. --Lanfranc (talk) 21:49, 22 October 2012 (UTC)

This is nonsense. See WP:commonname. Of course it's a holiday. We go by what reliable sources call it, such as this one: [1]. OR is not acceptable.-- FutureTrillionaire (talk) 02:40, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

Please travel the world a little (or accept what others say about things you know nothing about). It is NEVER called a holiday in my country. (And it doesn't matter what that country is.) I don't mind if you call it a holiday, but try not to claim that you can speak for the whole world. HiLo48 (talk) 05:04, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

Don't be such a bigot, HiLo48. There are PLENTY OF PEOPLE in Australia who celebrate Hallowe'en and call it a holiday. Don't assume everyone subscribes to your narrow-minded, anti-American views. You might even care to read this article and this article. It may be a corporate construct in Australia, but that doesn't mean you can just close your eyes to it. 159.253.7.128 (talk) 06:52, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

It is NOT called a holiday in Australia. Those articles don't do it. YOUR bigotry and abuse are on display. HiLo48 (talk) 12:02, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

Futuretrillionaire - making absolute statements like "Of course it's a holiday" is rarely safe, nor polite. Hatting comments disagreeing with you is rarely safe, nor polite. You cannot win an argument here by censorship and silencing those who disagree with you, and that's what re-hatting this will be. I have said my piece, and will now move on. Hopefully others will see that your POV is not helpful to the article. HiLo48 (talk) 23:08, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

This is pretty ironic, considering that halloween takes its very name from hallowed/holiness. Both of which refer to an old English word for being whole, pure, perfect etc.Ninahexan (talk) 23:11, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

wrong date for All Souls

All Souls Day is Nov. 2, not Nov. 1 as stated. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 50.192.87.65 (talk) 19:20, 25 October 2012 (UTC)

I'm pretty sure that's not right. Can you provide sources? -- FutureTrillionaire (talk) 19:24, 25 October 2012 (UTC)