A celebration on another day

Text A: an original contemporary practice extract.

Our family had always held the birthday meal on the date itself. This year, two people could attend only at the weekend. I first treated moving the meal as a smaller version of the celebration, as if the calendar could measure how much we cared. My brother asked whether I wanted everybody together or wanted the photograph to carry the correct date.

We kept a small birthday breakfast on the day and held the larger meal on Sunday. Nobody pretended Sunday was my birthday. It was when we could share the occasion properly. The distinction helped: changing one arrangement did not require rewriting the date or abandoning everything familiar. I stopped asking the guests to prove affection through a timetable that made some of them absent.

Text B: an original contemporary practice extract.

The neighbourhood lantern evening usually took place on the first Friday of the month. Several regular helpers now worked that evening, and the hall was available on Saturday. A committee member said a move would break the tradition. Another asked whether the tradition was chiefly the Friday or the neighbours making and carrying their lanterns together.

We advertised Saturday clearly and kept the familiar route and closing song. Fewer people had to rush from work, and the absent helpers could return. Friday remained part of the event’s history, rather than becoming a test nobody could question. The date changed openly; the reason for meeting and much of the experience remained recognisable.

Both texts describe the decisions about changing the celebration dates.

What similarities do the decisions about changing the celebration dates share in these extracts? Use evidence from both texts to support your answer.