Halloween is a great day for parties. Children dress up as witches,
ghosts or vampires, and they go from house to house playing TRICK OR
TREAT. But what’s the origin of this custom?
Halloween means Hallows’ Evening. It is the evening before All
Hallows’ Day (now called All Saints Day), a Christian holiday,
celebrated on the 1st of November. But that day was important already in
ancient times. On the 1st of November, Celtic peoples celebrated the
festival of Shamhuinn, which marked the beginning of winter and the
Celtic New Year.
“How come a Christian and a pagan holiday are celebrated on the same
day?” you might ask, “Is it just a coincident?” – No, it isn’t. When
Christianity spread, the Church tried to disturb the pagan customs as
little as possible, and so they merged their festivals with pagan ones.
It
was widely believed that on Hallows’ Evening the dead would rise from
their graves to roam the earth. Afraid of evil spirits, people therefore
either wore ugly masks to frighten those spirits away, or they stayed
at home saying prayers. Some would also go from house to house, begging
for ‘soul cakes’, square pieces of bread with currants. In return they
promised to pray for dead members of the donors’ families.
Going from house to house, begging for sweets – doesn’t that sound
familiar? Indeed, that’s the origin of TRICK OR TREAT. Be aware,
however, as the custom has changed! Nobody is going to pray for you
nowadays. Instead, if you don’t have a TREAT for the children in front
of your door (some sweets for example), they will most likely play a
TRICK on you – that’s what TRICK OR TREAT is all about.
