Happy Halloween to all!
There’s no better time to point you to the LOC’s “Wise Guide” for October, which explores how trick-or-treating got started:
The origins of present day “trick-or-treat” date back to the Celtic tradition of offering gifts of fruits and nuts to appease wandering spirits. If not placated, the villagers feared that the spirits would kill their flocks or destroy their property. Others trace “trick-or-treat” to a European custom called “souling.” Beggars would go from village to village begging for “soul cakes” made out of square pieces of bread with currants. The more soul cakes the beggars would receive, the more prayers they would promise to say on behalf of the dead relatives of the donors.
The Wise Guide includes links to other Halloween-related resources at the Library of Congress.
November 1, 2008 at 8:39 pm
Nice one,
Really enjoyed reading it..
Regards,
Richard Vanderhurst.
November 3, 2008 at 3:47 pm
I had read the article about the orgions of halloween and was described as a celtic tradition.Among the archives of this subject not all the accurate information had surfaced but a small insight about this tradition.I do believe among this odd tradition people do these things to scare off the haunting sprits but for good reasons because durring the 17th century their was a time of magic and witches that were among this planet earth and the origions of this witch that had began this tradition of halloween still walks among this planet in sprit haunting people as we speak.If you truely want to know more about her nature just read the novels of mc.beth he comes close about this advent.