From Souling to Trick-or-Treating

Time to get the kids in costume, walk them around the block, and ask neighbors for candy! Why? The tradition often long outlasts its meaning.

children standing while holding Jack 'o lantern and wearing costume

Souling

The word 'Halloween' is a contracted version of 'All Hallows' Eve', a medieval Catholic festival held on the 31st of October. The word 'hallow' means Saints, as the following day, November 1, was celebrated as 'All Saints' Day'.Interestingly, the day after that was considered 'All Souls' Day', a day where the church encouraged people to pray for the souls of the dead so that they would safely make it out of purgatory.

The three days were called "Hallowtide" and a tradition called 'souling' developed where people would go house to house and offer prayers for the dead in return for a special cake. For every one of these "soul cakes" handed out, it was thought that a soul safely made it out of purgatory.

Guising

A secular practice known as 'guising' also developed in medieval Britain and Ireland for historically unknown reasons.Children would dress in disguises and recite poems for their neighbors, threatening mischief if they were not rewarded with food or coins.

This tradition of 'guising', originally not fixed to a day, seems to have combined itself with 'souling' and landed on All Hallows' Eve (October 31). The tradition seems to have eventually replaced souling altogether.

Trick-Or-Treat

Waves of immigration from Scottish and Irish communities hit North America in the late 1800s and they brought their traditions with them. In Ontario, Canada, a newspaper stated this:

Between six and seven o'clock, the children began to appear in the streets, disguised with all kinds of masks and costumes. The usual programme of visiting the corner grocery stores, hotels and private residences was carried out, the youngsters' efforts as elocutionists and vocalists being rewarded with money, apples, nuts, etc.

The earliest known mention of the phrase "trick or treat" also came in Ontario, Canada six years later. Another newspaper stated this:

Almost everywhere you went last night, particularly in the early part of the evening, you would meet gangs of youngsters out to celebrate. Some of them would have adopted various forms of "camouflage" such as masks, or would appear in long trousers and big hats or with long skirts. But others again didn't. . . . "Tricks or treats" you could hear the gangs call out, and if the householder passed out the "coin" for the "treats" his establishment would be immune from attack until another gang came along that knew not of or had no part in the agreement.

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The trend soon spread with youth across the United States in the 1920s and 1930s. However, Halloween pranks often got out of hand, leading communities to crack down on vandalism and organize them in a more family-friendly fashion, which gave us the modern "trick-or-treating" by the 1940s!