Happy Halloween! 10 facts about trick or treating for those braving the streets this evening!
Trick or treating has its roots in Scotland and Ireland in the Middle Ages, when it was known as "guising". Young people dressed up in costumes and went door-to-door looking for food or money in exchange for performing songs, poems or other "tricks."
In England in those times, “souling” was a tradition whereby children went from door to door on All Souls Day, offering prayers for residents’ deceased loved ones in exchange for food.
It could go back even further than that, to Ancient Greece. Ancient Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis wrote that, in ancient times, the Greek island of Rhodes had a custom in which children would go from door-to-door dressed as Swallows, singing a song, demanding the owners of the house give them food and threatening to cause mischief if the owners of the house refused.
Guising was first recorded in North America in 1911 when children were recorded as having done this in the province of Ontario, Canada. It was also in Ontario, in 1917 that use of the phrase “trick or treat” was first recorded.
Although the roots of trick or treat originated in Britain it wasn’t until the 1980s that it became popular in the UK, possibly thanks to it being featured in the film ET.
Not much trick or treating went on during the second world war because of Sugar rationing.
The most popular costumes for kids are princesses and superheroes, while adults like dressing up as Witches. In 2019, the most popular costume for dogs was a Pumpkin.
In Scandinavia, trick or treating is an Easter activity rather than a Halloween one.
Adults who relish the trick or treat tradition would be advised not to move to Bathhurst in Canada. Anyone over the age of 16 caught trick or treating is fined up to $200 and there’s an 8pm curfew for everyone on Halloween.
In Mexico the practice is called calaverita (Spanish diminutive for calavera, "Skull"), and instead of "trick or treat", children say, "¿Me da mi calaverita?" ("[Can you] give me my little skull?"), where a calaverita is a small skull made of sugar or Chocolate.
NEW!!
Beta
(Combat Team Series #2)
Steff was abducted by an evil alien race, the Orbs, at fourteen. Used as a weapon for years, he eventually escapes, but his problems are just beginning. How does a man support himself when his only work experience is a paper round and using an Orb bio-integrated gun?
Warlord is an alien soldier who knows little but war. When the centuries-old conflict which ravaged his planet ends, he seeks out another world where his skills are still relevant. There are always wars on Earth, it seems. However, none of Earth's powerful armies want him.
Natalie has always wanted to visit England and sees a chance to do so while using her martial arts skills, but there are sacrifices she must make in order to fulfil her dream.
Maggie resorted to crime to fund her sister's medical care. She uses her genetic variant abilities to gain access to the rooms of wealthy hotel guests. The Ballards look like rich pickings, but they are not what they seem. When Maggie targets them, little does she know that she is walking into a trap.
Hotel owner Hamilton Lonsdale puts together a combat team to pit against those of other multi-millionaires. He recruits Warlord, Natalie, Maggie and Steff along with a trained gorilla, a probability-altering alien, a stockbroker whose work of art proved to be much more than he'd bargained for, a marketing officer who can create psionic forcefields, a teleporting member of the landed gentry, and a socially awkward fixer. This is Combat Team Beta.
Steff never talks about his time with the Orbs, until he finds a woman who lived through it, too. Steff believes he has finally found happiness, but it is destined to be short-lived. He is left with an unusual legacy which he and Team Beta struggle to comprehend; including why something out there seems determined to destroy it.
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