What is the origin of trick-or-treating on Halloween?

Answer

Halloween (Samhuin) is a pre-Christian Celtic Quarter Day that marked New Year's Eve (NYE) until the calendar was shifted around. Jan. NYE visits were Christianized, but not Oct. Samhuin. Costumes and blackened faces fooled Otherworld spirits that broke through the veil between worlds - it thins on all four Quarter Days. On Samhuin and NYE, groups of guisers performed plays in homes they visited. They were rewarded with treats of food. Adults performed traditional plays while children were only expected to recite a short rhyme.

Answer

I believe Trick-or-treating came from the religious All Saints Day where people would go out and try to appease the dead.

For more information, use the Google search box to the right and enter "history of trick-or-treating".

Answer

I'm not sure where either of these previous answers got their information, but it certainly wasn't from sources who'd actually done research. Those who have attempted to track down the histroy 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, is 100 years old, if that, and didn't really solidify as an American cultural event until after WWII.

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.

Answer

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 neighbourhood, 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, fuit, 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 neighbours, 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 anniverary of his death on 25th January.

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