Trick-or-treating
From Free net encyclopedia
Trick-or-treating, also known as Guising, is an activity for children on Halloween in which they proceed from house to house, asking for treats such as candy with the question, "Trick or treat?" Trick-or-treating is done in costume and is one of the main traditions of Halloween. It has become socially required if one lives in a neighborhood with children to purchase candy in preparation for trick-or-treaters.
The activity is popular in the United States, Ireland and Canada, and due to culture importation in recent years has started to occur (though with considerably less enthusiasm than in the USA and Canada) in Australia and many parts of Europe.
History
The earliest mention of the term "trick-or-treating" shows up in 1939, although the practice of dressing up in costumes and begging door to door for treats on holidays goes back to the Middle Ages. Trick-or-treating comes from the late medieval practice of "souling," when poor folk would go door to door, receiving food in return for prayers for the dead on All Souls Day. It originated in the British Isles, and is still popular in Ireland, and in some parts of England and Scotland. In Scotland and the North of England, it is called guising because of the disguise or costume worn by the children. However there is a significant difference from the way the practice has developed in the States. In Scotland, the children are only supposed to receive treats if they perform tricks for the households they go to. These tricks normally take the form of a simple joke, song or funny poem which the child has memorized before setting out. Occasionally a more talented child may do card tricks, play the mouth organ, or something even more impressive, but most children will earn plenty of treats even with something very simple. However, guising is falling out of favour somewhat, being replaced in some parts of the country with the American form of trick-or-treating. In modern Ireland there is no "trick" involved (neither the Scottish party trick nor the American jocular threat), just "treats" — in the form of apples or nuts given out to the children. However, in 19th and early 20th century Ireland it was often much more exuberant — for example, slates were placed over the chimney-pots of houses filling the rooms with smoke and field gates were lifted off their hinges and hung from high tree branches.
The ancient Celtic peoples of the British Isles believed that from sundown to sunup of the holiday of Samhain (later All Hallows Eve and Halloween) the mortal world and the spiritual world were closer and more easy to travel between than at any other time of the year. This was the time that people who had died could most easily visit the mortal world.
Samhain was not a scary holiday until the priests trying to Christianize the "benighted pagans" decided that "if you can't beat 'em, join 'em!" and slowly convinced the majority of people that returning spirits were bad, and that they should not be welcomed, but scared away instead. This attitude allowed the people to retain their favorite holiday traditions (putting out food for the returning spirits, parading around with candleholders made of hollowed-out gourds, building bonfires and other activities depending on the region) while staying on the good side of the church.