Why do children do the Trick-or-Treating?
Trick-or-Treating – It has been a tradition for many kids, or even kids at heart, to wear costumes on Halloween and go from house to house to get their sweet treats.
On the night of October 31, the tradition of trick-or-treat is being observed by many people around the world. Many households would really prepare the most delicious treats they could offer to the kids.
However, many years ago, this tradition had a different face. Based on the article in Mental Floss, historians would link this Halloween activity to the Celtic festival of Samhain. In this festival, people marked the transition to the new year, as well as the end of the harvest and the beginning of the winter.
In the modern calendar, this festival is from October 31 to November 2. In this short period, the Celts believed that the realms of the living and the dead overlapped and that spirits both good and bad could walk among the living.
They would sometimes impersonate the evil spirits to ward them off by wearing costumes of white clothing and masks or blackface. These old pagan customs were Christianized when Christianity gained influence in the British Isles.
Three Christian holidays were placed on the dates mentioned above and they were “All Hallows’ Eve, All Saints’ Day, and All Souls’ Day,” together known as “Hallowmas.” Eventually, Hallow’s Eve was shortened to “Hallowe’en.” It became Halloween in conversation and casual usage.
Trick-or-treating started in the Middle Ages in the British Isles. Children and some poor adults, known as “soulers,” would go from house to another house during Hallowmas and collect food or money in return for prayers said for the dead on All Souls’ Day.
“Guising,”a secular version of souling started and was first recorded in Scotland in the 19th century. Guisers earned food treats or money by offering a small performance, like telling a joke or singing a song. Some of the earlier costumes recorded were borrowed both from Samhain and British mummery.
However, horror author and Halloween historian Lisa Norton had a different explanation. She argued that this tradition is from a more modern, more American practice with no ties to the usual ghouls and ghosts.
The tradition is called “Belsnickling,” derived from the German mumming tradition of “Peltznickel.” It was a Christmastime tradition in German-American communities. In this tradition, children wearing costumes would call on their neighbors to see if the adults could guess the identities of the disguised guests. Another version of this tradition would allow children to have food or other treats as rewards if no one could identify them.