Where did Trick Or Treat come from

A lot of the traditions we practice when we celebrate Halloween nowadays have deep seeded roots in the customs of ancient times.

Trick-or-treating, for instance, most likely started from All Soul’s Day parades that were carried out in England many years ago. The reason is that during these parades, needy people would beg for something to eat because they couldn’t afford to purchase food. Other more affluent families, as a result, would give them special pastries called “soul cakes” as a promise to pray for the people in their family that had died.

Not to be forgotten, a lot of families would likewise leave food and drinks outside during All Hallows Eve and All Saint’s Day in order to keep roaming spirits at bay. Many would say that this custom may be where kids dressing up as ghouls and goblins represent the roaming spirits and the candy/food given would concur with that custom.

Which brings us to why we dress in costumes today when we go to parties or go trick-or-treating. Long ago, during Celtic times, special ceremonies were held to signify the ending of Summer and the start of wintertime. This was known as Samhain.

During these ancient celebrations, Celts would dress up in costumes made from animal pelts. The Celts thought that on the evening of October 31st, the dead would be able to cross over from their world back into ours. To keep the spirits from recognizing them, they’d dress in costumes to hide their true identities from the roaming spirits.

They thought that by wearing masks, that this would conceal them and make the wandering spirits believe they were other kindred spirits simply wandering about and leave them alone.
By integrating the disguises and leaving food offerings outside their houses, people of the past believed it would keep restless roaming spirits distracted protecting themselves and their homes from becoming overrun with unwanted spirit guests.

Obviously, nowadays, there are a lot of other types of costumes we wear on Halloween. Not just the traditional witches, hobgoblins, and spirits of the past.

All of this explains why in modern times we wear costumes, hold parties, and go out trick-or-treating on Halloween.