What were the tricks of "trick or Treat"??

Question

At the door children say Trick or Treat as they will take each but what did this stem from?

In early times did people do tricks or give like toy magic tricks away?

Answer 1

It came from the medieval period after christionity adopted Samhain in a modified for into All holy eve/day before all saints day(Halloween)
It was believe that minor spirits i.e. Imps would go out on this night and cause mischief trick (our cows milk , no eggs., etc) treat (greater crop,egg laying hens, ets.,)
So you would go out in costume so they would not know friend from foe.
Later adapted for children,especially of the poor. The children would go out in costume to your house and by their scary presence would scare away the imps so they would not harrass your house, as a fee you give them food(dried meats,breads,etc.,) or coin. which the poor used to carry through the winter.
So the evil costumes of today have nothing to do with the devil and more with scarying away evil spirits.

And remember Halloween is a "Christian holiday" as Sacred as any other Catholic holiday and not a evil one.

Answer 2

I remember a Little House on the Prarie episode where the ne'er do-well Trick or Treaters soaped up the windows of some poor, unsuspecting homeowners. They took a bar of soap and rubbed all over the windows. That was one trick.

Answer 3

Give me a treat or I'll throw a pie in your face.

I think maybe buy saying trick or treat, the candy giver away person would choose what they wanted to give/show the kid. HEHE... Im making that up

Answer 4

Tricks: Toilet paper a tree, egg a house, hawk a loogie on the doorknob, bag of dog poo on fire on the front porch...but then again I was a juvenile delinquent...as well as a bad influence. I dunno about "early times" but i suppose to some the 1970's could be considered "back in the day"

Answer 5

It started as a threat, give me a treat or I will do something (a trick) to you. Like break windows, flower pots, things in your yard,or do something to hurt you . something mean and malicious. So people gave them treats (candy and cookies,fruit,sometimes even money) to go away and not do any harm.

Answer 6

back then, soaping windows, piling wood in front of doors, harmless pranks that were good for a laugh, buggy on top of barn...
Nothing mean or distructive

Answer 7

Probably something less anti-social than the twats round my area do now... egging houses, scratching cars etc...

Answer 8

The Celts coalesced as a society circa 800 BCE. They were located in what is now the United Kingdom, much of Western Europe and an isolated enclave in what is now Turkey. They held a major celebration near the end of our month of October, which they called called "Samhain", a festival to recognize the end of summer.

(The story that "Samhain" was a Celtic God of the Dead is a myth. However, it has been repeated so often by conservative Christian and secular sources that it has taken on a life of its own.)

The Celts believed that the veil between this world and the next was thinnest at this time of year. Friends and relatives who had died would often return, with their souls inhabiting an animal - often a black cat. Black cats have remained a symbol of Halloween down to the present time.
I
n celebration of the recently completed harvest, Celts would give offerings of food to the Gods. **They often went from door to door to collect food to donate to their deities. Also, young Celts would ask the townspeople for kindling and wood, and take it to top of the hill for the Samhain bonfire. These are two of the possible origins of present day "trick or treating." **

Samhain was a fire festival. Sacred bonfires were lit on the tops of hills in honor of the Gods. The townspeople would take an ember from the bonfire to their home and re-light the fire in their family hearth. The ember would usually be carried in a holder - often a turnip or gourd. They felt nervous about walking home in the dark; they were afraid of evil spirits. So they dressed up in costumes and carved scary faces in their ember holders. They hoped that the spirits would be frightened and not bother them.

Children continue to dress up today in various costumes. Pumpkins are now the objects of choice to carve faces into.

Wiccans and some other Neopagans base their religious faith on the religion of the Celts. They continue to celebrate Samhain today.

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To most people, Halloween is a fun holiday to dress up and eat candy. Well, even Pagans like to eat candy on Halloween, but we consider it to be a very important holiday in a more spiritual sense as well.

The proper name for the occassion is Samhain (pronounced Sow-en or Sow-een). It's sometimes referred to as the Witches New Year, because our religious year starts/ends with Samhain.

The holiday began being called "Halloween" because the Catholic church created All Saints Day (or All Hallows Day) on November 1st, in an attempt to turn people away from the original Pagan holiday. The night before became known as "All Hallows Eve", which then got shortened up to Halloween.
If you are concerned about the Pagan nature of October 31st, then you should probably stop celebrating Christmas and Easter, too.

Though those holidays have been thoroughly adopted by the Christian religion, they were both originally Pagan celebrations (Yule and Ostara). Halloween is the only holiday that has kept most of its Pagan meanings, without the Christian overtones.
Many fundamentalist Christian groups stand against the celebration of Halloween because they feel it is associated with demons and Satan. Unfortunately, most (if not all) of their 'facts' are incorrect.

The most common error, is that Halloween is celebrated to honour the Celtic God of the Dead, Samhain. The Celts had no such God. The word "Samhain" more likely came from "samhuinn", which is the Gaelic word for "summer's end". A fitting name, since that is precisely what this holiday is celebrating.

There is nothing Satanic about Halloween, either in modern times, or in the early history of the festival. Of course, there is nothing Satanic about any aspects of Wicca, witchcraft or Paganism, but that's another story altogether.

We don't celebrate black masses, conduct sacrifices or cast hexes on Halloween (or any other day!)

So now you know what Halloween isn't, but what does Halloween mean? Well, to Pagans who celebrate Samhain, it is the third and last of the year's harvest festivals. The crops are in, and it's time to relax and prepare for the long winter ahead. Samhain is a time to reflect on the events of the past year, and to remember those who have passed away. It's at this time of the year that spirits travel from this world to the next. Both good and evil spirits.

Part of the mythology of the holiday is that the God dies at Samhain, and the Goddess mourns Him until His rebirth at Yule. It is Her mourning that brings about the shorter, cold days of winter. After His birth at Yule, the days begin to get longer again.
Many of the symbols and traditions that we see around Halloween today can be traced to earlier times.

Carving of jack-o-lanterns probably started with turnips rather than pumpkins, but the idea is the same either way. With the spirits of the dead travelling on this day, people would carve faces into turnips (or gourds or whatever) in order to scare away any evil spirits. The dressing up in costumes was also done to scare off bad spirits.

***The idea of playing tricks was not done maliciously, but just as a way of having a bit of fun before the long dark winter settled in. The original gathering of treats was done to provide offerings to the Gods, in thanks for the harvest. ***

Personally, I leave a candle lit in the window along with a food offering for the spirits that might pass my way.

One last word. Many fundamentalist Christian groups have a strong negative bias towards any religion that is different from their own. Please keep this in mind when reading their websites for more 'truth' about Halloween.

Answer 9

TP or the bag on fire is always good.