View Full Version : Did everyone have a quiet and uneventful Gate Night?
Seems every year (Gate Night) we hear about/read about damage done in some neighbourhood or another, but for the past few years now, so it seems, Gate Night (at least where we live) has lost it's foothold.
Gate night?
Oddly enough, in all my nearly 60 years I'd never heard of Gate Night either, until yesterday! The History Channel mentioned it in a program about the history of Halloween.
See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mischief_Night
It is known as "Gate Night" in Trail, British Columbia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trail,_British_Columbia), Winnipeg, Manitoba (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winnipeg,_Manitoba), Thunder Bay, Ontario (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder_Bay,_Ontario), Nanuet, NY (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nanuet,_NY),Valley Cottage, NY (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Valley_Cottage,_NY&action=edit&redlink=1), North Dakota and South Dakota (USA) and as "Mat Night" in Quebec (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec) (Unconfirmed, See "The Basketball Jones"), Canada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada), always on the 30 October, the eve of Halloween (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween).[2] (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mischief_Night#cite_note-DEVIL-1) It is also commonly known as "Devil's Night" in many places throughout Canada (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada) and western Pennsylvania (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania).
Sad Eyed Lady
10-31-11, 3:29pm
Me too alan. In my (just now) 60 years I had never heard of it either until this thread! It's always good to learn something new.
Miss Cellane
10-31-11, 4:37pm
We have Devil's Night here. However, the town tries to prevent it by moving Trick or Treating to either Oct. 29 or 30.
All that got messed up this year with the Big Nor'easter plowing through on Oct. 30, Saturday. We were supposed to do T or T'ing on Sunday night, but it got cancelled. So for once, we are actually doing T or T'ing tonight, the actual Halloween night.
Nothing much happened last night--I think there was still too much snow and too many people without power. I do remember that years ago, when my brother was captain of the high school football team, my parents' house got toilet papered. Dad was not amused.
HappyHiker
10-31-11, 4:44pm
Never heard of Gate Night. When I was growing up we called the night before Halloween "Mischief Night." Stink bombs, soaping windows and toilet paper garlands were usually involved. It was fun for us, not so much for the folks who forgot to garage their cars and had their car windows obscured by soap...
Maxamillion
10-31-11, 4:57pm
Never heard of it before. Around here, stuff like that goes on on Halloween night.
iris lily
10-31-11, 7:53pm
Why no, we did not have a quiet and uneventful night. Two punks dressed in Cardinals garb and dreds performed an armed robbery in our alley.
I am stuffing my rings back into their hiding place for a while. Now, where is that gun thread?
I had no idea so many people have never heard of Gate Night before.
Miss Cellane and HappyHiker, I too have heard it called Devil's Night/Mischief Night. So sad the fun has moved away from mischievous/devil behaviour to more destructive.
Iris Lily. Passing on trick-or-treating at your house. Your neighbourhood scares me.
goldensmom
10-31-11, 8:51pm
Never heard of Gate Night, it's devils night here and is not mischief but it is destructive, evil stuff. I don't mind harmless mischief such as toilet papering a house, but in bigger nearby cities delinquents burning vacant houses is the common and expected. There is a lot of extra police patrols, fire department activity and neighborhood watch people losing sleep. I don't get the mentality, or rather lack of mentality that goes into such acts. No problems in my small community however and come November 1st it's All Saints Day.
Quiet here. Too quiet. We live in the country so no trick or treaters. Actually i miss them. Unfortunately my adult daughter refuses to dress up in a cute costume and ring the doorbell. go figure! !Splat!:D
In the Detroit area, where I grew up, it's known as Devil's Night. In the mid-80s, things got very bad in Detroit. Lots of fires.
ApatheticNoMore
11-1-11, 12:48am
No never heard of it or devils night. Since Mrs M posted it I just assumed it was some Canadian thing, haha, and so figured I'm not meant to understand it. :)
Done right, you can make Halloween last several days, from Gate Night through the Days of the Dead, which end on the 2nd. Party on!
Halloween night, typically, is quiet and uneventful in our area. Patrols and large numbers of people (trick-or-treaters) help keep the real ghouls and goblins away, yet every November 1st, I never fail to see broken pumpkins scattered about, a sign that someone (a few) still felt the need to destroy a little bit of the happiness a homeowner or two put in to make their home a more festive and brighter place for those out trick-or-treating.
While I've never heard of "Gate Night" I have heard of "Devil's Night" but they aren't a tradition where I live. Halloween night ended up being pretty tame. I rushed home from work to get my carved pumpkins lit and on the pathway to my front door and don my witch's hat. It was a pretty low-key night. Actually most of the trick-or-treaters were older kids with really great home-made costumes, you could tell they put some thought and attention to them (usually the teens come in crappy clothes with just pillow-cases). Everyone was polite and just out to have a good time. It looked like more of my neighbors decided to not be home or kept their porch lights off and just not participate. Just the cost of pumpkins and candy can be difficult if one is having financial problems so maybe that was it.
Today it's Day of the Dead, time to remember those we loved who have departed. I hope you all have some good memories to consider today.
When I was growing up in NJ all those centuries ago, we knew it as "Mischief Night"
Simpler at Fifty
11-1-11, 2:15pm
When I was a kid we had trick or treat on Oct 30th- Gate night. The kids from out of town would come to our town and then go to their own on Halloween. I don't know why they always did Gate night and I am not sure what they do now. Been a while since I heard someone mention Gate night.
Jania. I noticed several neighbours this year turned their outdoor lights off an hour early. What I find is, we get a handful of little ones around suppertime (still fairly light out), then from between the hours of 6:30 till about 7:30, visitors are made up of little ones along with younger ones, but by 7:30- 8:00 the older ones start showing up. (I've never heard of Day of the Dead).
Weston. You sound like an immortal! i.e. "all those centuries ago"... My smile of the day! :)
Simpler at Fifty. It's too bad some cast a bad spell on Halloween by way of Gate Night.
We spent Gate Night in Yosemite no problems and the valley was beautiful. The falls are pretty much dry this time of the year but the fall colors made up for the dry falls. Gate Night is also our anniversary but we were married in Germany where there is no Gate Night.
Happy belated anniversary, Freein05! Gosh, I'm so jealous of all you travelers. :)
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