Sunday Halloween Irks Some in Bible Belt
Oct 15, 2:19 PM (ET)
By KRISTEN WYATT

NEWNAN, Ga. (AP) - Across the Bible Belt this Halloween, some little ghosts and goblins might get shooed away by the neighbors - and some youngsters will not be allowed to go trick-or-treating at all - because the holiday falls on a Sunday this year.

"It's a day for the good Lord, not for the devil," said Barbara Braswell, who plans to send her 4-year-old granddaughter Maliyah out trick-or-treating in a princess costume on Saturday instead.

Some towns around the country are decreeing that Halloween be celebrated on Saturday to avoid complaints from those who might be offended by the sight of demons and witches ringing their doorbell on the Sabbath. Others insist the holiday should be celebrated on Oct. 31 no matter what.

"Moving it, that's like celebrating Christmas a week early," said Veronica Wright, who bought a Power Rangers costume for her son in Newnan. "It's just a kid thing. It's not for real."

It is an especially sensitive issue for authorities in the Bible Belt across the South.

"You just don't do it on Sunday," said Sandra Hulsey of Greenville, Ga. "That's Christ's day. You go to church on Sunday, you don't go out and celebrate the devil. That'll confuse a child."

In Newnan, a suburb south of Atlanta, the City Council decided to go ahead with trick-or-treating on Sunday. In 1999, the last time Oct. 31 fell on a Sunday, the city moved up trick-or-treating to Saturday, which brought howls of protest.

"We don't need to confuse people with this," Councilman George Alexander said.

In Vestavia Hills, Ala., a suburb of Birmingham, a furor erupts every time Halloween falls on Sunday. Local officials decided not to take a stand this time.

"About 15 years ago, we decided to have Halloween on Saturday instead. People went crazy. We said, 'Never again,'" recalled Starr Burbic, longtime secretary to the mayor. "It messed everybody up to move Halloween. Some people don't like having it on a Sunday, but we just couldn't find a way to make everyone happy."

The patchwork of trick-or-treat zones could work to children's advantage: Some might go out on both nights to get all the treats they can.

With so many towns split over when Halloween should be celebrated, many are going with a porch-light compromise: If people do not want trick-or-treaters, they simply turn off their lights, and parents are asked not to have kids knock there.

"Most people don't have a problem with it. It's a pretty universal compromise, so that's what we go with," said Grand Rapids, Mich., police Lt. Douglas Brinkley.

really...REALLY, people! you can't be serious?

there is so much going wrong today, and yet the only thing these morons can think and worry about is some holiday where kids get to dress up in costumes in get free candy?

to think this is a holiday 'celebrating satan' is ridiculous. how would satan benefit from little kids dressing up like spiderman and getting snickers bars?

these people are fucking retarded.

Uhh, yeah... the day of the devil, right... that's why it's the day before All Saints Day...

And people say zombies aren't real........

De facto devil worship.

So, those people should ALSO have a problem with TREES being used in Christmas celebrations, right?  Because the tree things seems to be more of a pagan ritual that's been tacked onto (or merged with) the celebration of the birth of Christ.

And WTF is up with the Easter Bunny????   What the hell does a pagan fertility symbol have to do with the resurrection of Christ???



I don't mind people have a beef with Halloween, as long as they are CONSISTENT in their rejection of non-Christian rituals and symbology.

Apes evolved from creationists

Quoted: So, those people should ALSO have a problem with TREES being used in Christmas celebrations, right?  Because the tree things seems to be more of a pagan ritual that's been tacked onto (or merged with) the celebration of the birth of Christ. And WTF is up with the Easter Bunny????   What the hell does a pagan fertility symbol have to do with the resurrection of Christ??? I don't mind people have a beef with Halloween, as long as they are CONSISTENT in their rejection of non-Christian rituals and symbology.

Yeah ! WTF with that bunny ?

Halloween, formerly known as All Hallowed's Eve, was the day before All Saint's Day, 11/1.  IIRC, 11/2 is All Souls' Day.  

As with nearly all things religious, it was corrupted by popular culture.  Halloween, having is roots in a Roman Catholic Holy Day, is an easy target in the Bible Belt.  

Quoted: So, those people should ALSO have a problem with TREES being used in Christmas celebrations, right?.

When I was growing up my family never had a tree in our house at Christmas time for exactly this reason.  No, the tree isn't evil or anything, but as Christmas is supposed to be a Christian holiday, why should Christians sully the celebration with pagan icons?

Careful, poink.

You're going to get in a rut.

Yup, thats what is going on here. Heck, they dont even have trick or treating anymore, everyone goes to one centrel place, and line up like good sheep, to be given little candy baskets, PLEASE, WTF is that about.....

Halloween is the 31st, no matter what day of the week it falls on.....

Woot!  My hometown in an AP dateline!  I'm so proud...no, wait.

I remember when they had trick-or-treating a day early a few years back.  I was going home from work and saw all these kids out on the 30th, and I was thinking, "WTF?  Is my watch wrong or something?"

Hey, we're getting better, though.  We actually got liquor by the drink passed a couple of years ago!  But not on the Lord's Day, of course.....  

Glassy eyed, crack pots..

Some of the fundamentalist Lutherans around here celebrate it as "Reformation" Day.

Some places try to shift it to a non-school night but that usually just makes it a 2 night event .

Quoted: Halloween, formerly known as All Hallowed's Eve, was the day before All Saint's Day, 11/1.  IIRC, 11/2 is All Souls' Day.   As with nearly all things religious, it was corrupted by popular culture.  Halloween, having is roots in a Roman Catholic Holy Day, is an easy target in the Bible Belt.

Halloween comes from Samhain (November 1), this was the night that the walls separating the spirit world, the fairy world & the human world came down. The Jack o'lantern comes from the practice of carving turnips into the shape of a head & hanging it one the doorframes (remember these people were headhunters)  to ward away spirits.


Besides, don't these people realize that the Sabbath is on Saturday, not Sunday?