Americans have been celebrating Halloween for just as long as Thanksgiving, and longer than Independence Day. But while the costume-friendly, sugar-filled holiday feels timeless, the version celebrated today — in the U.S. and around the globe — differs drastically from its Celtic origins. Once a night for honoring the dead, Halloween slowly transformed into a night of revelry and mischief with a supernatural twist. The biggest change? The focus on candy and treats, which American trick-or-treaters have made inseparable from the holiday. Americans are expected to spend $10.6 billion on costumes, candy, and other Halloween items in 2022, up from the record-high $10.14 billion spent in 2021.
Surprisingly, candy wasn’t always the main focus of Halloween. The Celts were known to carry treats in their pockets or bags during Samhain as a form of protection against unfriendly spirits; danger could be staved off with the bribe of a snack should a traveler encounter a particularly ill-behaved ghoul. While the rise of Christianity throughout Europe snuffed out many pagan practices associated with Samhain, the idea of exchanging food and treats remained. Following the creation of All Saint’s Day, British and Irish bakers would give away small, spiced “soul cakes” to revelers who meandered from house to house. Door knockers would promise prayers for the homeowner’s deceased family members in exchange for the raisin-topped treats.
In America, the early days of trick-or-treating in the ninth century didn’t exactly yield pillowcases full of candy either; costumed children roaming from door to door begged for money or food instead of sweets while older kids and teens went about the business of performing pranks. It’s likely that public sentiment about vandalism is what helped candy gain more importance than Halloween hijinks. Trickery was a common part of Halloween festivities through the late 1800s, with rowdy revelers performing relatively benign pranks such as soaping windows and tipping outhouses. But by the turn of the 20th century, holiday mischief was seen less as a right of passage for youngsters and more as vandalism and cruelty. As families moved from small communities to large cities, pranks escalated to include more costly property damage and were no longer tailored to specific victims, but unsuspecting passersby.
Cities began hosting parties, parades, and other events to curb Halloween destruction and create a more positive holiday atmosphere. Despite those efforts, it was World War II that drastically changed the holiday’s course; pranks were characterized as a wasteful use of limited resources and a disturbance to factory workers who didn’t have time or energy for tricks. After several years of dampened festivities, communities retooled Halloween, promoting the idea of costumed trick-or-treating as an enjoyable, safe activity. With a booming generation of post-war kids who could easily demand treats from their new subdivision neighbors, the concept took off, cementing itself today as the main way to celebrate the spookiest day of the year.
Media Release/Interesting Facts
