10 Bizarre Origins Of Everyday Traditions That Will Blow Your Mind
8. Trick-Or-Treating On Halloween
The Tradition Today: Halloween is a bizarre mish-mash of Christian and pagan folkloric roots mixed with rampant Western commercialization and good old-fashioned fun, all coming together to create a unique celebration. One of the hallmarks of Halloween is trick-or-treating, a custom in which children dress up in cute costumes some that attempt at frightening, but mostly pop-culture figures these days and go door-to-door sing-songing trick or treat to get free candy from strangers (the only day of the year, apparently, where this is an acceptable thing). Where It Came From: Many of todays Halloween traditions can be traced back to Celtic harvest festivals, particularly the festival of Samhain. On Samhain October 31st, to mark the end of the harvest the Celts believed that the veil between the world of the living and the supernatural Otherworld was the thinnest, allowing spirits to cross over between worlds. This festival marks the origin of guising, wherein young people would dress up in the guise of these wandering spirits, representing the spirits at the festivals by imitating them or possibly hiding from them. This, in some cases, involved people going from house to house reciting verses in exchange for food for feasts or offerings to the malignant spirits (that were often left on the doorstep to placate them). The trick part of trick-or-treating can also be traced to Samhain, which was often a night of mischief and confusion. All in all, it certainly sounds a damn sight more interesting than apple-bobbing and sexy nurse costumes.
Canadian student. Spends probably an unhealthy amount of time enthusing over musicals, unpopular TV shows, and Harry Potter. Main life goal: to become fluent in Elvish.
