I read an article the other day that was describing Halloween traditions. The author indicated that trick or treating became popular in the United States primarily due to a Peanuts Comic Strip published in 1951. Not to start an argument, but I’m pretty sure that’s not very accurate. Trick or treating has been popular for as long as I can remember and I remember going trick or treating long before 1951. Maybe it became more popular due to that comic strip — I don’t know…. but of course I just had to do a little extensive research….
Trick or treating’s roots can be traced back to Celtic Britain and Ireland in the 9th century. The night of October 31 was known as Samhain, a Pagan festival that was later combined with Christian celebrations and renamed All Saints’ Day by the Catholic Church.
At Samhain, pagans believed the souls of our dead came into our world — and were appeased by offerings of food and drink. Trick or treating may have evolved from a ritual where people dressed as ghosts and demons, performed dances around a bonfire and received treats to appease evil spirits.
This practice was known as mumming, but by the time Christianity had spread to Britain, a new practice called souling had developed. Poor people would visit the houses of the rich and receive pastries called soul cakes, in exchange for promises to pray for the homeowners’ dead relatives. In Scotland and Ireland, young people would visit their neighbors’ houses and sing a song, recite a poem, or perform another sort of “trick” before receiving a treat of nuts, fruit or coins.
The term trick or treating wasn’t used until the 1920s, when it was adopted in America. The first mention of trick or treating in print occurred in 1927. A Canadian journalist wrote an article discussing a town’s Halloween meeting….”The youthful tormentors were at back door and front demanding edible plunder by the word ‘trick or treat,’ to which the inmates gladly responded and sent the robber away rejoicing.”
When this practice first started, adults weren’t too happy about being forced to hand out sweets, under the threat of a trick — they saw it more as an offer they couldn’t refuse.
So trick or treating has been around a long time and even though it isn’t like I remember it when I was a kid, seems like it’s here to stay.
— 30 —