Halloween is a sacred day of celebration. Much like the other holidays we celebrate, Halloween as we know it has always fallen on the date of October 31, and for good reason. 

The name Halloween comes from its older name of All Hallows' Eve. This name basically means the evening before All Hallows' Day (also called All Saints' Day, Hallowmas, the Feast of All Saints, or Solemnity of All Saints), a Christian festival celebrated in honour of all the saints, which falls on November 1st. On November 2nd another holy day, All Souls' Day, is celebrated in honor of all Christians who have passed away.

Modern Halloween festivities were created to help keep children out of trouble. Before costume parties where they'd enjoy such things as bobbing for apples, pumpkin carving contests, decorating, dancing, etc., children were often causing serious trouble, usually in the form of vandalism. In some areas these acts were so bad, usually on the day before Halloween (10/30), that the date became informally know as Devil's Night, or Mischief Night. Current Halloween traditions have helped put a near end to Devil's Night shenanigans.

Unfortunately, many people of today's current society wish to change the sacred date of Halloween to the last Saturday of the month to help set aside an entire weekend for Halloween fun. However, as Halloween is technically a holiday based on religion, with its date having many cultural meanings, the most common being that the boundary between the living and the dead is thinnest allowing the undead souls to cross over. This is where we get our traditions of trick-or-treating and costume wearing. 

To change the sacred date of Halloween to fit the schedules and ideology of those in modern society would be a major failure. Not only would it be unfair, it would also be innacurate. The name "Halloween" (again, short for All Hallows' Evening) states that it belongs the night before All Hallows' Day. Switching the date of Halloween would be the equivalent of switching the date of Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve.

Many Halloween themes in pop culture use the set date of 10/31. It can be found in classic movies, television, musoc, literature, etc. Altering the date of Halloween would be an injustice to these popular forms of media that rely on 10/31 as the date for Halloween.

Halloween is a special time of year. The entire month of October leading to the final night of the month where we celebrate. It's become a fun time of year for both children, teens, and adults. It's a time of year many of us hold close, look forward to, and prepare for year round. Halloween is October 31.

Instead of changing the date of Halloween, why not recognize its status as a national holiday, along with All Hallows' Day and even All Souls' Day, much like that of Thanksgiving and Christmas and New Year's Eve? Therefore we will always have the day of and the day after set aside for traditional Halloween festivities without changing its sacred date of October 31.

Halloween is and always will be 10/31.