Trick-or-Treating

The custom of trick or treating became popular around 1930. It is believed that stems from a practice that emerged in Europe during the ninth century called “Souling”, a kind of service to souls. On November 2, All Souls Day, Christians went from village to village begging for "dead cakes" (soul cakes), which were pieces of bread with raisins. The more cakes the beggars would receive, the greater the number of sentences that would pray for the souls of dead. At that time it was believed that the dead people remained in limbo, and that recited sentences, even by strangers, could expedite the entry of the soul to heaven.

The practice spread in the United States as an attempt by the authorities to control the excesses that occurred during the night of Halloween. By the late nineteenth century, some sectors of the population considered the night of October 31 as a fun time, probably inspired by the “Mischief Night” which was part of the Irish and Scottish culture.