Halloween Traditions

The history of trick-or-treating, and how it became a Halloween traditions

 

Main idea

1) Halloween looked a little different in 2020: Rather than traditional trick-or-treating, kids received bags of candy that people sent down chutes to their doorsteps, or stayed home to decorate pumpkins and participate in online costume contests.

2) Halloween is thought to date back more than 2,000 years to Samhain, a Celtic New Year’s Day that fell on November 1. Demons, fairies, and spirits of the dead were thought to walk the Earth the night before when the separation was thin between the worlds of the living and the dead.

How trick-or-treating became a tradition

How did those Celtic traditions evolve into one of children trick-or-treating in costumes for fun and candy—not for safety from spirits? According to the fifth edition of Holiday Symbols and Customs, in as early as the 16th century, it was customary in England for those who were poor to go begging on All Souls’ Day, and children eventually took over the custom. At the time, it was popular to give children cakes with crosses on top called "soul cakes" in exchange for prayers on your behalf. Lisa Morton, author of Trick or Treat: A History of Halloween, traced one of the earliest mentions of typical Halloween celebrations to a letter from Queen Victoria about spending Halloween around a bonfire in Scotland in 1869.

 

 

How trick-or-treating grew popular

 Trick-or-treating became widespread in the U.S. after the Second World War, when rationing ended and candy was once again readily available. The rapid development of suburban neighborhoods where it was easier than ever for kids to travel from house to house also fueled the rise of the tradition. In the 1950s, Halloween imagery and merchandising started to reflect that popularity, and the holiday became more consumerist. Costumes went from simple, homemade attire mimicking ghosts and pirates to mass-produced costumes of beloved TV and movie characters.

 

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