After my Halloween entry a new posts ago, one of our readers did the obvious thing (well, obvious to someone more intelligent than me, I guess) and posed the question directly to Filofax: Why not include Halloween in your diaries?
And here's the answer:
Dear [Customer],
I honestly don't know why Holloween is not printed on October 31st. It
is a possibility that the calendar is printed in England or somplace in
Europe that doesn't recognize Holloween. It could be that it is
considerd a pagan/wiccan holiday and it doesn't count. I guess you could
look at it all different angles. I do know when you get a diary that
there is a page that lists Religious Festivals that include Christian,
Christian Orthodox/Greek Orthodox, Islamic,Hindu, Buddhist,Sikh,Jewish, and Chinese. Wiccan/Pagan is not recognized.
So, I guess, there you have it.
Sincerely,
Donna Castro
Customer Service Representative
Filofax, Inc.
www.filofaxusa.com
www.lettsusa.com
www.lamyusa.com
For the sake of balance, Filofax isn't discriminating against pagans - it doesn't specifiy Christmas Eve either!! Perhaps, in that delicious way we English have, they assume most people can work out that the 'Eve' comes immediately before the 'day' so if they mark 'All Saints Day' and 'Christmas Day' the vast majority of us will be able to work out when Halloween and Christmas Eve are?
ReplyDeletewhich is smart. If they did list wiccan "holidays" They'd most likely lose many customers.
ReplyDeleteOy! I'm afraid everybody's missing the point as badly as our friendly young Filofax Customer Service Representative!
ReplyDeleteAlthough I do like Anonymous #1's thinking. It's so elegant and clear-minded to think of Halloween and Christmas Eve as being covered by the holidays that follow the next day.
So I guess all of us North Americans will have to use our Filofaxes to remind ourselves to buy candy for by the door, jack o'lanterns to carve, and costumes for the kids for "the night before All Saints Day."
Well said, Nan! Some are missing the point. No one is saying that Filofax should include Wiccan/Pagan holidays in the diary. I took your original post as innocent curiosity.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite things to do this time of year is unwrap a brand new diary refill (monthly & week per view) and get them 'outfitted' for the coming year. I have set up a template to include events important to me and run the diary sheets through my printer to keep things neat. I know, it sounds as though I have more time than sense, but it's something to do. I am an avid gardener and a bit superstitious, so I also add tidbits from the Old Farmer's Almanac. For example – did anyone know that Armadillo mating season began on July 13? Holidays not common in mainstream society could be added in similar fashion.
It is also interesting to note that, while most calendar companies try to keep things simple and not offend, the majority include moon phases to remind us of the new, full and quarter cycles. Many earth-based religions rely on this critical information when planning certain events and staying in tune with the natural rhythm of the universe.
It’s all a matter of perception.
At the risk of sounding like a Filofax "historian" (of sorts!) I can't find any reference of Halloween in any of many week-per-page diaries going back to 1988. It's likely it's never been noted in a Filofax diary because of its pagan origins and that Christian events used to feature in detail in Filofax diaries.
ReplyDeleteHowever the Filofax rep's comment that "calendar is printed in England or somplace [sic] in Europe that doesn't recognize Halloween" is incorrect that Halloween was an event that originated in the UK and Ireland; so it hasn't been left out for those reasons.
Although am a strict Atheist I did rather enjoy seeing all the events of the Christian calendar in detail in the Filofax diaries and it's a shame they don't do it as well any more.
Hi Keven -- I'm glad you weighed in on this. You're definitely our best Filofax historian. Thanks for checking all those years back for us!
ReplyDeleteFor those who haven't seen it yet, here's the Filofax history that Kevin wrote up: http://ukcoldwar.simplenet.com/documents/filofax/chronology/.