What day is mischief night when pranks are played on people?
Mischief night or Gate night (also known as Devil’s Night in some areas) is a tradition in parts of England, Canada and the United States; a night when the custom is for preteens and teenagers to take a degree of license to play pranks and do mischief to their neighbors. The most common date for mischief night is October 30, the day before Halloween. Traditional practice A mischief night was celebrated at Halloween (October 31 and the eve of winter) or May Eve (April 30 and the eve of summer) until the nineteenth century. Shrove Monday (i.e. the night before Shrove Tuesday and known as Nickanan Night in Cornwall and Dappy-Door Night in Devon)[3] was also celebrated in this way in some places. In some localities, notably Yorkshire, it occurred on the night before Guy Fawkes Night (November 4) but there are no records of this date being celebrated before the late nineteenth century and it is assumed that festivities were transferred there from the much older folk festivals. An alternate
Clearly not satisfied with using the rotten eggs and shaving cream of Halloweens past, Rainn Wilson offers up new tricks and pranks for mischief night on ‘The Jay Leno Show.’ He torments the people in his neighborhood with bologna wallpaper and a field of forks until he’s chased off by an irate Weird Al Yankovic. Watch the clip from TV’s Top 5! below. Sources: http://insidetv.aol.
As the sun sets on the night before Halloween, some SJSU students may take part in a tradition of mischief that has been around in the U.S. since the ’80s. Oct. 30th is known in some parts of the country as “Devil’s Night,” “Mischief Night,” “Goosey Night” or “Cabbage Night,” said Amanda Jordan, a mathematics major at Hamilton College in Clinton, N.Y. Some SJSU students said they did not know this tradition had a name. Freshman accounting major Matthew Manalo said he has never heard of “Mischief Night” or “Devil’s Night,” even though he said he participated in some pranks on Oct. 30th in high school. Sources: http://media.www.thespartandaily.com/media/storage/paper852/news/2009/10/29/News/Setting.Fires.And.Smashing.Pumpkins.Are.Traditions.On.mischief.Night-3817150.
