The Pagan Origins of Trick-or-Treating

The tradition of trick-or-treating has a really complex history but it’s believed that this tradition in part comes from a Celtic Pagan activity that took place on Samhain.  In my previous video I mention how Samhain is the precursor to the holiday we now call Halloween and that it was considered to be a liminal time among the Celtic Pagans.  This means that the division between the realms on Samhain night would be very thin and various spirits, such as the Fae, would be able to cross over into our dimension. The Fae are neither good nor evil but they are definitely known for causing mischief.  In order to placate these spirits and to make sure they didn't cause you harm, the Celtic pagans would leave offerings outside their door for them. So here you can already see how the concept of trick-or-treat comes into play.  People would offer treats to the spirits so they wouldn’t be tricked by them.  

The tradition of costume wearing may also derive from these early Celtic Samhain traditions.  All traditions tend to evolve over time and tradition of trick-or-treating is no exception.  Instead of just leaving offerings for the spirits outside, eventually people started to wear masks and impersonate the spirits.  They would then go around and collect the offerings on the spirits behalf.  They also believed that by dressing like the spirits, it would protect you from them. 

This tradition continued to change with time and by the Middle Ages the concept of dressing up and going door to door became popular in the form of what was called “Mumming”.  “Mumming” is where people on certain days would go around their village in costume and perform short plays.  By the 15th century people started referring to this holiday as Allhallowtide, which was a combination of the Christian days of All Saints' Eve (Oct 31st), All Saint’s Day (Nov 1st) and All Souls Day (Nov 2nd).  During Allhallowtide, people would make and give ‘Soul cakes” as a way to commemorate the dead.  They would go door to door and pass these cakes out in an activity called “souling.”  So like many holiday traditions, trick-or-treating, is a combination of ancient Pagan practices and their later christianized versions.

I find it interesting that despite that fact that Halloween’s origins lie in Europe, it’s Americans that are mostly celebrating it today.  The earliest recorded reference to Halloween being celebrated here is from 1915 and trick-or-treating didn’t become a widespread practice here till 1930.  I sometimes wonder what it is about American culture that caused Halloween to become so popular here. I don’t really have an answer but I’d love to hear your thoughts on this.  

Comment below if you participated in trick-or-treating when you were younger and let me know what your favorite Halloween candy is.