Trick or Treating
—Chrissie
Listen here: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/hwts-261--62503672
At the turn of the Twentieth Century, Halloween celebrations took a different form. Trick or treating was not yet a standard activity, parties at home with family and friends were more common. It was also a much more mischievous holiday, during which pranks and vandalism were the norm. In an attempt to redirect the energies used for shenanigans which sometimes became dangerous or expensive to repair, and old tradition was revived and modernized to become Trick-or-Treating.
Throughout human history, there have been celebrations of the harvest and holidays to mark the changing of the seasons, and it is from these traditions that Halloween is derived. What started as harvest festivals invoking the naturalistic gods of pre-Christian Europe was altered by the Catholic Church to a time of prayer venerating saints. This holiday allowed people to be performative with their faith, and so a begging tradition was created: the poor of an area would be encouraged to beg from the rich during harvesttime, allowing the rich to express their piety by helping the poor. One of the things they gave out were “soul cakes,” for which the person receiving it would promise to say a prayer for deceased loved ones. Over the years, the tradition shifted away from almsgiving to become a children’s activity.
In the American colonies, some of the more “pagan” traditions for the season continued: parties that centered around magical things like divination, telling scary stories, and some mischief. Tricks could be played on neighbors and then blamed on the ghosts that so obviously walked the streets at this time of year. In some cultures, the idea of dressing up as something scary or otherworldly is intended to fool the ghosts into thinking the person is one of them, so that they leave the person alone. But, as it seems always happens, people took things too far. By the 1920s, perhaps fueled by the terrible anxiety and fear created by the First World War, genuine vandalism, instead of good-natured tricks, became the norm. Communities sought to reign in the impulse and redirect it, so the old begging tradition was revived: children could dress up and ask for treats as an almost veiled threat that if they were not provided, a trick would be forthcoming.
One of the leaders of this new (old) way of celebrating the season was the small town of Anoka, Minnesota. Beginning in 1920, the town arranged a community celebration that began with a parade and ended with a bonfire in the evening in the town square. Children were delighted to march in the parade and were given treats at the bonfire. Despite much of the community being away from home that night, no vandalism was reported. The idea seemed to have worked. The activities were repeated the next year and the next, equally successfully. Other towns across the country followed suit, and Anoka soon came to be called the Halloween Capital of the World.
This title was made official by an act of the United States Congress in 1937, when Anoka paperboy Harold Blair won a contest for a trip to Washington sponsored by the Minneapolis Journal. He went to the capital, wearing a specially-designed sweater that pronounced Anoka to be the Halloween Capital of the World and, alongside Minnesota congressman Millard Rice, delivered a speech that explained why Anoka should be given official status. Congress agreed and an official proclamation was made later that year.
Like the rest of the United States, Anoka’s Halloween celebrations were interrupted by the Second World War. Sugar was rationed and candy companies like Hershey’s were producing more for soldiers’ rations than they were for public consumption, but parties and trick-or-treating still went on, though with a different idea in mind. The parties were fund-raisers for the USO or the Red Cross and the kids trick-or-treating didn’t ask for candy but for scrap metal, like bottlecaps, that could be contributed to the war effort. Things returned to normal after the War was over, and soon Halloween exploded into one of the biggest holidays in the United States.
For children of the Postwar baby boom, Halloween became a sacred tradition, one they carried into adulthood and passed on to their children. In the years since, elements have changed: homemade treats are no longer trusted and costumes are more often bought than sewn. Some older elements have even been revived, as charitable organizations like UNICEF add fundraising to trick-or-treating to raise money for vaccination programs across the world. But the Spirit of Halloween (pun intended) and of Trick-or-Treating remains the same celebration of creativity and candy and will for the years to come.