Trick-or-treat, Why do we celebrate Halloween?

By: Isabelle Fraser

On October 31st every year we wear scary outfits, bob for apples and carve pumpkins - but why?

The Americanised (Americanized?) Halloween that we experience now actually originated in the Celtic fringes of Britain, and was adapted by Christian traditions, immigrants' conventions and an insatiable desire for sweets.

The word comes from 'Hallowed evening', and is the day before All Hallows Day - also known as All Saints' Day.

What is the history behind Halloween?

The origin of the festival is disputed, and there are both pagan and Christian practices that have evolved into what Halloween is like today.

Some believe it originates from the Celtic pagan festival of Samhain, meaning 'Summer's End' which celebrated the end of harvest season.

Gaels believed that it was a time when the walls between our world and the next became thin and porous, allowing spirits to pass through, come back to life on the day and damage their crops.

Places were set at the dinner table to appease and welcome the spirits. Gaels would also offer food and drink, and light bonfires to ward off the evil spirits.

  The origins of trick or treating and dressing up were in the 16th century in Ireland, Scotland and Wales where people went door-to-door in costume asking for food in exchange for a poem or song. Many dressed up as souls of the dead, or Aos Si, and were understood to be protecting themselves from the spirits by impersonating them.

The Christian origin of the holiday is that it falls on the days before the feast of All Hallows, which was set in the eighth century to attempt to stamp out pagan celebrations. Christians would honor saints and pray for souls who have not yet reached heaven.

What has Halloween got to do with dressing up?

Celts dressed up in white with blackened faces during the festival of Samhain to trick the evil spirits that they believed would be roaming the earth before All Saints' Day on November 1st.

By the 11th century, this had been adapted by the Church into a tradition called 'souling', which is seen as being the origin of trick-or-treating. Children go door-to-door, asking for soul cakes in exchange for praying for the souls of friends and relatives. They went dressed up as angels, demons or saints.

The soul cakes were sweet, with a cross marked on top; when eaten they represented a soul being freed from purgatory.

Nicholas Rogers, a historian at York University says that when peopleprayed for the dead at Hallow Mass, they dressed up. When praying for fertile marriages, "the boy choristers in the churches dressed up as virgins. So there was a certain degree of cross dressing in the actual ceremony of All Hallow’s Eve.”

  Photo: Getty

In the 19th century, souling gave way to guising or mumming, when children would offer songs, poetry and jokes - instead of prayer - in exchange for fruit or money.

Halloween trick-or-treating

The phrase trick-or-treat was first used in America in 1927, with the traditions brought over to America by immigrants. Guising gave way to threatening pranks in exchange for sweets.

After a brief lull during the sugar rations in World War Two, Halloween became a widespread holiday that revolved around children, with newly built suburbs providing a safe place for children to roam free.

Costumes became more adventurous - in Victorian ages, they were influenced by gothic themes in literature, and dressed as bats and ghosts or what seemed exotic, such as an Egyptian pharoah.

Later, costumes became influenced by pop culture, and became more sexualised in the 1970s.

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Heidi Klum dressed without her skin at her annual Halloween bash  Photo: Everett Collection / Rex Features.Telegraph