Trick or Treat

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The practice of trick or treating is believed to have come from the pagan festival of Samhain. Beggars or children would go throughout the town "begging" for "soul cakes" from the town's inhabitants. The soul cakes were square breads that contained fruits or currants. The person who gave the cake would tell the children the name of a recently departed family member, friend or loved one and the recipient would pray for that person's soul. This practice became known as souling. In the ancient pagan rituals the towns people would leave wine and bread out for beggars, however Christian missionaries eliminated the wine and changed it to soul cakes. Slowly over hundreds of years the sweet soul cakes became replaced with sweet candy. The "trick" part is what you did to someone when they weren't home when you came to their door. Originally the tricks were little more than harmless prinks like soaping windows, throwing eggs, or covering the person's lawn with toilet paper. However as more and more communities had problems with the "tricks" becoming more aggressive and destructive, the practice of doing tricks has fallen out of favor.

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