Children dressing in costumes and going door-to-door for treats is a relatively modern tradition—but its origins can be traced to the Celts and even a long-lost Christmas tradition.
Trick-or-treating became widespread in the U.S. after World War II, driven by the country's suburbanization that allowed kids to safely travel door to door seeking candy from their neighbors. In 2020, that tradition looked different due to the coronavirus pandemic. Here, a costumed actor hands out candy at a Halloween drive-through experience in Woodland Hills, California.Please be respectful of copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.
People take part in a sunset ceremony for Samhain in Glastonbury, England, in 2017. The Celtic festival—which later became Halloween and typically includes a parade, dancing, and bonfires—marks the division between the lighter half of the year, summer, and the dark of winter.The Celts lit bonfires and set out gifts of food, hoping to win the favor of the spirits of those who had died in the past year. They also disguised themselves so the spirits of the dead wouldn’t recognize them.
An old cabinet photograph shows a young woman and five boys in full Halloween costume in Lexington, Oklahoma, circa 1890.But how did those Celtic traditions evolve into one of children trick-or-treating in costumes for fun and candy—not for safety from spirits? Morton writes that people in the American middle class often were anxious to imitate their British cousins, which would explain a short story printed in 1870 that painted Halloween as an English holiday celebrated by children with fortune-telling and games to win treats.
As trick-or-treating’s popularity rose, adults found it far easier to hand out individually wrapped candies than apples, nuts, and homemade goodies. Candy had first made its appearance in the 1800s at American Halloween parties as taffy that children could pull, and candy is now solidified as the go-to “treat.”
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