Mischief Night

Mischief Night is an informal holiday on which children and teenagers engage in pranks and vandalism. It is known by a variety of names including Devil's Night, Gate Night, Goosey Night, Moving Night, Cabbage Night and Mat Night.^[1]

Historical background[]

The earliest reference to Mischief Night is from 1790 when a headmaster encouraged a school play which ended in "an Ode to Fun which praises children's tricks on Mischief Night in most approving terms".^[2]

In some regions in England, these pranks were originally carried out as part of the May Day celebrations, but shifted to later in the year, dates varying in different areas, some marking it on 30 October, the night before Halloween, others on 4 November, the night before Bonfire Night.^{[citation needed]}

According to one historian, "May Day and the Green Man had little resonance for children in grimy cities. They looked at the opposite end of the year and found the ideal time, the night before the Gunpowder Plot."^[2] However, the shift only happened in the late 19th century and is described by the Opies as "one of the mysteries of the folklore calendar".^[3]

Naming variations[]

In the United States and Canada[]

In most of New Jersey, as well as in New Orleans, Philadelphia, Eastern Pennsylvania, Delaware, parts of New York State, and Connecticut, it is referred to as "Mischief Night" or, particularly in the Great Lakes region, "Devil's Night". In some towns in Northern New Jersey and parts of New York State, it is also known as "Goosey Night".^[4][5][6]

Meanwhile, in Baltimore, Maryland, it has traditionally been referred to as "Moving Night" due to the custom of exchanging or stealing porch furniture and other outside items.^[7]

In Detroit, which was particularly hard-hit by Devil's Night arson and vandalism throughout the 1980s, many citizens take it upon themselves to patrol the streets to deter arsonists and those who may break the law. This is known as "Angels' Night". Some 40,000 volunteer citizens patrol the city on Angels' Night, which usually runs October 29 through October 31, around the time most Halloween festivities are taking place.^[8]

In rural Niagara Falls, Ontario, during the 1950s and 1960s, Cabbage Night (French: Nuit de Chou) referred to the custom of raiding local gardens for leftover rotting cabbages and hurling them about to create mischief in the neighbourhood. Today, the night is still celebrated in Ontario but is also commonly known as "Cabbage Night" in parts of the United States areas of Vermont; Connecticut; Bergen County, New Jersey; Upstate New York; Northern Kentucky; Newport, Rhode Island; and Western Massachusetts.^[9]

It is known as "Gate Night" in New Hampshire, West Kootenay (British Columbia), Vancouver Island, Winnipeg, Thunder Bay (Ontario), Bay City (Michigan), Rockland County (New York), North Dakota and South Dakota; as "Mat Night" in English-speaking Quebec; and as "Devil's Night" in many places throughout Canada, Michigan, and western Pennsylvania.^[10]

In the United Kingdom[]

In some parts of the country, "Mischief Night" is held on 30 October, the night before Halloween. The separation of Halloween tricks from treats seems to have only developed in certain areas, often appearing in one region but not at all nearby regions.^[10]

Mischief Night is known in Yorkshire as "Mischievous Night" or the shortened "'Chievous Night" "Miggy Night", "Tick-Tack Night", "Corn Night", "Trick Night" or "Micky Night" and is celebrated across Northern England on 4 November the night before Bonfire Night.^[11] In some areas of Yorkshire, it is extremely popular among 13-year-olds, as they believe it to be a sort of "coming of age ceremony" .^[12]

In and around the city of Liverpool, Mischief Night is known locally as "Mizzy Night"; trouble spots were being tackled by the Merseyside Police in 2015.^[13]

It is known in Welsh as Noson Ddrygioni and in Scottish Gaelic as Oidhche nan Cleas.^{[14][15][16][17]}

Contemporary practice[]

In the United States[]

Mischief Night is generally recognized as a New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Michigan phenomenon.^[18]

Mischief Night tends to include popular tricks such as toilet papering yards and buildings, powder-bombing and egging cars, people, and homes, using soap to write on windows, "forking" yards, setting off fireworks, and smashing pumpkins and jack-o'-lanterns.^[10] Local grocery stores often refuse to sell eggs to children and teenagers around the time of Halloween for this reason. Occasionally, the damage can escalate to include the spray-painting of buildings and homes.^[19] Less destructive is the prank known as "Knock, Knock, Ginger".

In New Orleans in recent years, Mischief Night has included a series of unruly parade-like riots.^[20] According to participants, the Mischief Night "krewes" follow in New Orleans' carnival's centuries-old tradition of "walking parades", which mostly transpire in the lead-up to Mardi Gras. Mixing revelry with mindless violence, Mischief Night parades involve thematic floats and costumes as well as targeted vandalism and fires. Targets of vandalism, attacks and arson have included the police, innocent bystanders and property.^{[citation needed]}

When asked in an interview from 2017 how Mischief Night in New Orleans fits into the context of carnival, a parader replied "Our Carnival traditions are those that actually want to 'turn the world upside down.'"^[21] After a parade through downtown in 2016 that saw bonfires in the street, police cars hit with paint, and a now-removed white supremacist monument chipped away at with a sledgehammer, another participant wrote:

There is no longer a middle ground; that’s been seized for luxury condos. The choice is stark: we either collectively build a more combative spiritual practice or we collude in ceding our ritual spaces of encounter to the oppressors.^[22]

In some areas of Queens, New York, Cabbage Night has included throwing rotten fruit at neighbors, cars, and buses. Children and teenagers fill eggs with Neet and Nair hair remover and throw them at unsuspecting individuals. In the mid-1980s, garbage was set on fire and cemeteries were set ablaze. In Camden, New Jersey, Mischief Night escalated to the point that in the 1990s widespread arson was committed, with over 130 arsons on the night of October 30, 1991.^[23]

Word of Mischief Night began to appear within U.S. newspapers around the 1930's and 1940's which told of those who were celebrating wanting to put distance between the wholesome night of trick or treating and the chaotic night of causing havoc around the town. There were also some who believed that the stress of the Great Depression was causing people to act out and this is what caused Mischief night to break out in this time. ^[24]

In popular culture[]

• In the 1994 film The Crow, the protagonist and his fiancé are murdered on the eve of their Halloween wedding on "Devil's Night" by a street gang on the orders of Detroit's most notorious crime lord, Top Dollar. With the help of a mystical crow, Eric returns from the grave on "Devil's Night" one year later to exact revenge against the crime lord and his henchmen.^[25]
• A 1999 episode of Rocket Power explores the joys of Mischief Night in The Night Before.^{[citation needed]}
• A 2006 film, Mischief Night, is based on events surrounding this night in Leeds, U.K.^[26][27]
• A horror film was released in 2013, Mischief Night, directed by Richard Schenkman.^[28]
• A different horror film was released in 2014, also called Mischief Night and directed by Travis Baker.^[29]
• Orange is the New Black: In season 6, episode 5, the main characters are subjected to pranks throughout the episode because of “Mischief Night”.^{[citation needed]}
• Are You Afraid of the Dark, season 1 episode 4 “The Tale of the Twisted Claw” opens on Mischief Night and plays an important role in the plot of the episode.

See also[]

• List of practical joke topics

References[]

External links[]

• Confessions from a Mischief Night brat BBC Yorkshire report — November 2006
• Police Patrol for Mischief Night BBC Merseyside report — November 2006
• Dialect Survey Results US terms;prevalence and distribution