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Although trick-or-treating did not gain popularity in the United States until the 1950s, the tradition has Celtic roots. October 31 is known as Samhain, a day when the dead returned to the earth. During Celtic celebrations of Samhain, many people wore disguises to ward off evil spirits. Groups of "guisers" performed plays in homes they visited. They were rewarded with treats of food.

The children would also carve out lanterns from a turnip (now we use pumpkins) 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" (now known as "bobbing 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.

Another explanation for trick-or-treating is that it comes from "souling," a tradition in Ireland and Great Britain. While souling, the poor would go from home to home and pray for each family's dead, and the families gave them small cakes to eat.

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.

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11y ago
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11y ago

I think It was Indians who first started it, but they didnt get candy they would just dress up in scary costumes because they believed they were scaring off evil like demons, ghosts and stuff like that. Than it carried on as a tradition and people started giving out candy to all the people dressed up and it became a United States tradition!

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15y ago

The custom of 'trick or treat' probably has several origins. Again mostly Irish.An old Irish peasant practice called for going door to door to collect money, bread cake, cheese, eggs, butter, nuts, apples, etc., in preparation for the festival of St. Columbus Kill. Yet another custom was the begging for soul cakes, or offerings for one's self - particularly in exchange for promises of prosperity or protection against bad luck. It is with this custom the concept of the fairies came to be incorporated as people used to go door to door begging for treats. Failure to supply the treats would usually result in practical jokes being visited on the owner of the house.

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9y ago

Trick or treating may seem an odd ritual but its roots may be odder still. The origins of this rather weird tradition probably lie in an eclectic mixture of the pagan Celtic holiday of Samhain and the Catholic rites associated with All Saints' and All Souls' Day. Samhain celebrated the dead, much like the Day of the Dead still popular in Mexico, and the practice of "guising" or wearing costumes as a method of warding off spirits became a common practice.

As Christianity expanded to the British Isles, the Christian practices on All Saints' and All Souls' days - Nov. 1 and 2 - began to take on similar characteristics as the poor would beg door-to-door for "soulcakes" in exchange for which they would pray for the dead. Our modern word Halloween comes from the term for All Hallows' Eve. Hallows was another name for the saints and is still heard in the modern word "hallow" meaning to make something holy.

A subsequent tradition called mumming saw early Christians dressing in costumes of ghosts or other frightening entities to perform tricks for food. Ultimately, a number of these customs found their way to the United States and trick-or-treating became standard practice on Halloween.

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14y ago

Well, a long time ago kids went around begging for small cakes and breads. So, it must have been evolved to kids dressing up and getting candy! :) Hope it helped!

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13y ago

when kids got fat and wanted more food

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Q: How and when did the tradition of trick or treating began?
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Related questions

Who began trick or treating?

pagan


Where do the French people go for trick-or-treating?

To neighboors and locally, but Halloween and trick-or-treating are not very popluar in France. Halloween and the tradition of trick-or-treating are mostly American.


Where did the trick-or-treating tradition come from?

it came from England


What is tradition for dressing in costume for Halloween?

evil costumes


Where did the tradition trick or treat come from?

Trick or treating did not come from a tradition. It was made as a way to make Halloween more fun. It has no connection to the old holiday Samhain or any other Halloween tradition.


When did kids in England start to trick or treat?

how did the ~America tradition of trick or treating on halloween begin


When was trick or treating on Thanksgiving?

There is no trick or treat on Thanksgiving. Trick or treating is for halloween. You can try trick or treating on Thanksgiving, but you might look odd.


When did trick-o-treating begin and why?

trick-o-treating began in early UK, Northern France, and present day Ireland. so about in the 1600's. it began because some of the adults wanted to give the younger children a chance to have fun and get some sweets.


What percentage of children under age 12 go trick-or-treating?

about 85% of people go trick or treating


Why is halween celebrated?

People celebrate Halloween because it is an American tradition that every year on OOctober 31 kids and parents go out trick or treating at night. It's pretty much a tradition


When did trick or treating become a Halloween tradition?

Trick-or-treating is the Halloween tradition where children go door-to-door dressed in costumes and saying "trick-or-treat" as a request for candy. It is said that the tradition began in the Middle Ages and mimics medieval "souling", a day when the poor went door to door receiving food in exchange for prayers for the dead. It is said to have originated in Britain and Ireland.


What do you say to people when you do trick or treating?

Trick or treat!