Why Do We Give Out Sweets at Halloween? The Story Behind Trick or Treat
Halloween is now so closely linked with sweets that it is difficult to imagine one without the other.
Every October, pumpkins appear in windows, children transform into witches, ghosts and monsters, and bags are carried from door to door ready to be filled with chocolate, gummies, fizzy sweets and whatever else the neighbours have waiting.
But sweets were not always the centre of Halloween.
In fact, the tradition we now know as trick or treating is the result of centuries of customs gradually mixing together β from ancient seasonal festivals and beliefs about the dead, to medieval prayers, disguises, mischief and eventually the brightly wrapped sweets we recognise today.
So how did a festival associated with the changing seasons and the supernatural end up becoming one of the sweetest nights of the year?
Letβs go back to the beginning.
π Where did Halloween begin?
There is no single moment when somebody βinventedβ Halloween.
The modern celebration developed from several traditions over a very long period of time. One of its best-known ancestors is Samhain, a festival observed in ancient Celtic societies around the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter.
The name Samhain is associated with the end of summer, and the festival fell around the point we would now recognise as the beginning of November. Traditions surrounding it included bonfires, gatherings and beliefs connected with the boundary between the living world and the supernatural. Β (Smithsonian Magazine)
For people living without electric lights, supermarkets or central heating, the arrival of winter carried a very different meaning from the one it does today. The harvest was ending, nights were becoming longer and survival through the colder months depended heavily on what had been gathered and stored.
It is not difficult to see why this point in the year became associated with darkness, uncertainty and stories about spirits.
Food also played a part. Some traditions involved leaving offerings for supernatural visitors, while disguises may have been worn as part of the celebrations.Β (Library of Congress Blogs)
That gives us the beginnings of two things that still feel very familiar at Halloween:
dressing up and giving out food.
But we are still a long way from a bag full of jelly skulls.
π» From Samhain to All Hallowsβ Eve
As Christianity spread across Europe, older seasonal customs existed alongside Christian festivals.
November 1 became associated with All Saintsβ Day, also known as All Hallows, while November 2 became All Soulsβ Day, a day connected with remembering the dead.
The evening before All Hallows became known as All Hallowsβ Eve.
Over time:
All Hallowsβ Eve β Halloweβen β Halloween.
This is one reason Halloween contains such a mixture of themes. It is not purely one ancient festival preserved unchanged for thousands of years; it developed as religious observances, folk traditions and local customs overlapped and changed. The Library of Congress describes Halloween as having roots in Samhain while also developing alongside the Christian observance of All Saintsβ Day.Β (Library of Congress Blogs)
And it is during the medieval period that the story starts getting much closer to modern trick or treating.
π° Before sweets, there were βsoul cakesβ
One particularly interesting tradition was known as souling.
Around All Soulsβ Day, poorer people and children could go from house to house asking for food. In return, they might promise to pray for the souls of the householdβs dead relatives.
Among the foods associated with the custom were small cakes that became known as soul cakes.
The Library of Congress notes the tradition of people travelling from village to village asking for these cakes in exchange for prayers for departed relatives.Β (Library of Congress Blogs)
Think about how familiar the basic idea sounds:
someone goes to a house β asks for a treat β receives food β performs or promises something in return.
It is not modern trick or treating, but you can see pieces of the later tradition beginning to form.
π Guising: dressing up for your treat
Another important tradition developed particularly in Scotland and Ireland.
It became known as guising, from the idea of going out in disguise.
Children would dress up and visit neighbouring homes, but receiving something was not necessarily automatic. A child might be expected to sing a song, tell a joke, recite a poem or perform another small βtrickβ before being rewarded.
The Library of Congress describes Scottish guising as a secular development related to earlier souling traditions, while Smithsonian notes that guising was established in Scotland and Ireland centuries before modern American trick or treating became widespread.Β (Library of Congress Blogs)
That makes the relationship with todayβs Halloween remarkably clear.
You have:
costume + doorstep + performance + treat.
We had almost reached trick or treat.
There just was not yet a fun-size bag of sweets waiting behind every front door.
π And there really were βtricksβ
Halloween was not always the neatly organised family event we now know.
Mischief was historically a genuine part of seasonal celebrations.
Young people played pranks, moved objects, caused disturbances and generally tested the patience of their neighbours. In parts of North America, Halloween mischief became disruptive enough during the early twentieth century that communities looked for ways of turning the evening into something more controlled and child-friendly.Β (Smithsonian Magazine)
The bargain behind βtrick or treatβ therefore made perfect sense:
Give us a treat and perhaps there will not be a trick.
The phrase itself began appearing in North America during the twentieth century, and by the post-war years trick or treating had become firmly established in popular culture. Β (History)
But even then, the βtreatβ did not automatically mean sweets.
π So when did Halloween become all about sweets?
This is where the story gets especially interesting.
Early trick-or-treaters could receive all sorts of things:
- fruit
- nuts
- homemade cakes
- biscuits
- coins
- toys
- other small gifts
Candy and sweets were only one possibility.
Smithsonian's history of Halloween confectionery notes that even during the 1940s and 1950s children could receive homemade food, money or toys alongside sweets.Β (Smithsonian Magazine)
So why did sweets win?
Part of the answer is simply that they were perfect for the job.
They were inexpensive, children wanted them, they could be bought in quantity and β increasingly importantly β individually wrapped sweets were incredibly convenient to hand out to dozens of children arriving at the door.
After the Second World War, trick or treating grew rapidly in the United States. At the same time, confectionery manufacturers increasingly promoted sweets specifically for Halloween.Β (History)
By the 1950s, sweets were becoming a much bigger part of the tradition.
By the 1970s, commercially produced and individually wrapped confectionery had increasingly become the expected Halloween giveaway, helped partly by changing attitudes towards giving children unpackaged homemade foods.Β (Library of Congress Blogs)
And that was a huge turning point.
Halloween had travelled from seasonal food offerings, through soul cakes and guising, to a night when entire neighbourhoods stocked up on confectionery specifically to give it away.
π¬ Why sweets and Halloween work so well together
There is also something about sweets that fits Halloween particularly well.
Halloween has always been a festival of exaggeration.
Ordinary houses become haunted houses.
Children become skeletons and witches.
Pumpkins grow faces.
And ordinary sweets can become eyeballs, skulls, worms, fangs and monsters.
Pick βnβ Mix is almost made for it.
A handful of different colours, textures and shapes can create something that looks gloriously strange before you have even tasted it.
Fizzy sweets add a sharp sour kick. Gummies bring the chew. Foam sweets add colour and texture. Novelty shapes turn a bag of sweets into something that actually looks Halloween themed.
The sweets may have changed enormously since the days of soul cakes, but the idea of sharing food at the door at this particular time of year has surprisingly deep roots.
π΄β οΈ From soul cakes to jelly skulls
There is something we rather like about that journey.
Hundreds of years ago, someone might have knocked at a door hoping for a small cake.
Later, a disguised child might have earned food by singing a song or performing a trick.
Today, the costume might be a vampire bought online and the reward might be a handful of fizzy gummies β but the simple excitement of going out after dark and returning home with treats is still there.
And, naturally, sweet shops have had quite a lot of fun with it.
At Mayflower Munchies, Halloween gives us an excuse to bring in some of the stranger members of the sweet world.
β οΈ Halloween is coming to Mayflower Munchies
We have some suitably spooky additions on the way for Halloween.
Look out for:
π§ Witches Heads
A Halloween sweet that probably doesn't need much explanation. If your Pick βnβ Mix needs something staring back at you, this should do nicely.
π΄β οΈ Jelly Pirates
Chewy pirate-themed jellies ready to join the Halloween crew.
π Jelly Skulls
Because no respectable Halloween sweet bag should be completely skull-free.
And we are also putting together something a little biggerβ¦
π» The Mayflower Terror Mix β 500g
A 500g Halloween Pick βnβ Mix combining a selection of sweets chosen for the season.
The Terror Mix will be joining the shop for Halloween alongside our individual spooky sweets, so customers will be able to grab a ready-made Halloween mix or choose their own favourites.
Coming soon.
π A tradition that keeps changing
Perhaps that is the most interesting thing about Halloween.
It has never really stood still.
Ancient seasonal traditions changed as religions and societies changed. Souling and guising developed into different customs. Immigrants carried traditions across the Atlantic. Mischief gradually became organised trick or treating. Homemade cakes and nuts gave way to wrapped confectionery.
And every generation adds something else.
The sweets might be different.
The costumes are definitely different.
But there is still something wonderfully simple about Halloween night:
dress up, knock on a door and hope there is something good waiting on the other side.
And these days, preferably something fizzy.