History of Halloween and Trick or Treat.

There are many theories as to how and when the Halloween and its custom of trick-or-treating actually began.

Halloween (Samhuin) is a pre-Christian Celtic festival marking the end of summer that marked New Year’s Eve until the calendar was shifted around. It was believed costumes and blackened faces fooled the otherworld spirits that broke through the veil between worlds groups of “guisers” performed plays at homes they visited. They were rewarded with treats of food and spirits quickly tuning things into often rowdiness. Adults performed traditional plays while children were only expected to recite a short rhyme.

It is also a common belief that trick-or-treating came from the religious All Saints Day, when people would go out and try to appease the dead. Pope Gregoiry declared November 1 All Saints Day or All Hallows (Holy) Day and the evening before All Hallows Eve which was soon shortened to Halloween..

Ancient Celts baked “soul cakes” leaving them on their doorsteps on “All Hallows Eve” to appease the dead who they believed resurrected on All Hallows Eve and prowling the night  needed something to eat – hence the soul cakes – and failing to find anything would punish the home’s owner.. People often went “souling” approaching the residence promising to pray for its deads soul if they could have the cake. If denied they sometimes caused havoc. By tradition that was the first trick or treat.

People protected their homes from the ghosts by carving turnips and gourds to frighten them away. In the mid-19^th century the customs came to thje U. S> with Irish and Scottish immigrants who carved faces on pumpkins.

By legend one poor fellow named Jack had his soul barred from heaven and hell and he was condemned to wander the earth carrying a lantern looking for his lost soul – that chap is the namesake for the ubiquitous Jack-O-Lantern.

Many who have attempted to track down the history of trick-or-treating, such as David Skal (Death Makes a Holiday) and Jack Santino (Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life) have discovered that trick-or-treating, as we know it today, may be only 100 years old, if that, and that it didn’t really solidify as an American cultural event until after WWII.

Others believe the tradition of trick-or-treating is related most closely to old urban Thanksgiving traditions of costumes and pranks. This “ragamuffin” tradition was popular in urban areas like New York and Boston, and consisted of costumed children parading around the streets begging for coins or treats, and pulling pranks when they didn’t get anything. Shopkeepers would often ‘buy off’ these pranksters, trading some sweet snack or bread loaf for security from soaped windows or pilfered shop signs. By the early 1900s these children would parade through the streets in their costumes, becoming an established holiday event, the ‘ragamuffin parade.’

However, spectacle parades like the Macy’s parade began to overrun these prankster traditions in the 1920s, and the Depression of the 1930s, all but rubbed the begging traditions out. Instead, Halloween became the new time for tricks and treats–and as the treats became scarce, the tricks became vandalism. Things got out of control in the 1930s, with several brawls and acts of violence associated with Halloween pranking. To counter this, homes started to offer parties for children, as an incentive to curb vandalism. Candy and treats were offered, in other words, literally to stop children from misbehaving on Halloween.

After a slowdown in WWII (when sugar was severely rationed), the post-WWII baby boom led to the solidification of modern trick-or-treating. It was bolstered by the manufacturing spirit of the 1950s, which saw the first real bags of bite-sized candy treats readily available for eager trick-or-treaters.

It is also said that trick-or-treating on Hallowe’en came from Scotland originally. The tradition of Hallowe’en has been celebrated there for hundreds of years. Children would often dress up in costume and go “guising” which comes from the word disguise. The Scottish Gaelic word for Hallowe’en is Samhain - pronounced “sowain”. The children would also carve out lanterns from a turnip “swede” or “rutabaga” to resemble a scary face. The children would go around the neighborhood, carrying their turnip lantern on a piece of string and knock on doors and say “please help the guisers”. The kids would be required to sing a song, or say a poem or tell a joke for which they would receive sweets, fruit, nuts or money. After they had been guising they would go home and put some nuts and fruit in a basin of water. With their hands behind their back, they would attempt to lift the fruit and nuts out of the water with their mouths. This was called “dookin”, and sometimes called “dookin fer aiples” (dookin for apples).

These traditions are still practiced today in Scotland although many children will now say “trick-or-treat” instead of “please help the guisers” since they see this on TV and in American movies. The children do not however play tricks on the neighbors, they still have to recite a verse or sing a song for their reward.

The inside of the turnip lantern is often not wasted but boiled and mashed. It is served with mashed potatoes and haggis - a traditional sausage made from sheeps stomach, oatmeal, onions and lamb offal. The Scots call this dish “haggis, neeps and tatties”. This dish is always served up on the national poets day - Robert Burns - on the anniversary of his death on 25th January.

Another theory is that trick-or-treating started around the 1910s but was really perfected during the 40s and5 0s. During the 1910s the children were have supposed to said a rhyme (i.e trick-or-treat)and the who either gave out treats or left them on the step would either get a trick or a treat. Usually if there were not treats that person or home would get a trick and it was usually a bad one.

Yet another explanation for trick-or-treating is that it comes from “souling.” In BC Ireland, the poor would go from home to home and pray for each family’s dead, and the families gave them small cakes to eat.

Halloween was a night of a great evil and supernatural forces. Samhain was a spirit or demon summoner who made great but terrible rituals. The meaning of TRICK OR TREAT, which in Greek means sorcery of the darkness, but may also be used to keep away the bad spirits.