The document discusses the origins of Halloween traditions like trick-or-treating and carving jack-o-lanterns. It traces these traditions back to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, which marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Samhain incorporated traditions like wearing costumes, lighting bonfires, and going door-to-door to receive treats, which influenced how modern Halloween is celebrated today. The traditions of carving faces into vegetables and using them as lanterns also originated from Samhain rituals.

2. Did you ever
wonder why trick-
or-treating is called
trick-or-treating?
Or why people dress
up in costumes on
the last evening of
October going door
to door, asking for
treats?

3. Or why we stick a light
or candle in a carved-
out pumpkin?

4. You can thank
the Celts and
the festival of
Samhain!

5. Samhain is an ancient
Gaelic festival that
marks the end of the
harvest season and
the beginning of
winter.

6. It is celebrated on the
night of October 31st
to November 1st,
halfway between the
autumn equinox and
the winter solstice.

7. Samhain is considered one
of the four major Gaelic
festivals, along with Imbolc,
Beltane, and Lughnasadh.

8. It was a time when the final crops of the season were gathered.

9. It was also believed to
be a transitional time
when the boundary
between the physical
world and the spiritual
world was thin.

10. Bonfires were held to mimic the sun
holding back the darkness of the
coming winter month. They would
also symbolically cleanse evil by
burning and destroying harmful
influences.

11. Trick-or-treating, as
we know it today, was
likely influenced by
three traditions -
mumming, guising
and souling.

12. Mummers would go
from house to house, in
costume performing
plays in exchange for
food, drink, or other
small gifts.

13. Guising was an act of dressing up in costumes and going
door to door but instead of performing plays, they
would ask for materials for the bonfire or for food and
drinks for the festival.

14. Souling was a charitable
practice in which poor people,
often children and sometimes
adults, would go door to door
and offer prayers through
rhymes or songs for the souls of
the departed in exchange for
food, money, or other
provisions.

15. The term "trick-or-treat" came
about in the 20th century. It was
used to imply that the children will
play a trick on the homeowner if
they don't receive a treat!

16. The Celts carved faces into
turnips, and other root
vegetables, hollowing them out
and placing candles or other
light sources inside. These
vegetable lanterns were
believed to have protective and
guiding qualities.

17. The tradition of carving
pumpkins into lanterns,
more recently known as
Jack-o'-lanterns, originates
from Samhain.
And for that, you can thank
at least in part, Stingy Jack.

18. Stingy Jack was a man
doomed to roam the
earth for eternity, with
only a hollowed-out
turnip with a burning coal
in it to light his way.

19. Legend has it that Jack continues to
roam the Earth with his makeshift
lantern, forever known as "Jack of
the Lantern" or "Jack-o'-lantern.“
Today, pumpkins are much more
prevalent and are commonly used in
place of turnips.

20. Samhain occurred in the evening – the Celtic day lasted
from sundown to sundown of the following day.
With the contraction of All Hallow’s Evening, you end up
with Hallowe’en – and so the modern-day Halloween
was born.