What is the origin of giving out candy on Halloween?
Giving treats on Halloween can be traced back to the ancient Celts who left trays of food outside their doors to placate any hungry dead ancestors who might come visiting that night. Fast forward a couple centuries to when the Christians took over Halloween (the name itself is Middle English for the night before a holy day: All Hallow’s Eve, eventually contracted to Hallowe’en) and you’ll find costumed mummers going door to door begging for soul cakes to offer the saints on Nov 1, All Saints Day. Fast forward a couple more centuries and you’ll find Halloween parties in the American south with apple bobbing and sweet treats. Children were encouraged to participate at these parties, and after WWII, trick-or-treating came back into fashion to engender community cohesion and as an activity parents and children could do together. So while candy has only been given out for the last 60 years or so, the practice of giving out something goes back thousands of years.
