Trick-or-Treating: Souling, Guising and Candy

How prayers for souls, disguised visitors, neighborhood pranks and candy companies converged into the ritual children know today.

Episode 16 of The Depths of Halloween. Elias, Mara and the Archivist debate the history, folklore and modern claims behind Trick-or-Treating: Souling, Guising and Candy. The production distinguishes documented history from folklore and later reinterpretation where the evidence is uncertain.

Estimated scripted runtime: about 15.5 minutes before performance pacing.

Topics in this episode

• No single ancestor
• From prayer to performance
• The Halloween problem
• Candy takes over

Sources and further reading

• Library of Congress: The Origins of Halloween Traditions
• Library of Congress: Halloween: Topics in Chronicling America
• Smithsonian Magazine: The Celtic Origins of Trick-or-Treating
• Smithsonian Magazine: When Halloween Was All Tricks and No Treats
• HISTORY: How Jack O’Lanterns Originated in Irish Myth