Episode Transcript
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0:02
Welcome to brain Stuff from how stuff Works,
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Hey, brain Stuff, Lauren bog obam here to
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grasp the rhyme and reason of why children
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dawn, ridiculous costumes and bang down
0:13
doors demanding candy. Once a year, we
0:15
must rewind the clock a couple of millennia
0:17
and visit the ancient Celtic clans of Britain.
0:20
The Celts celebrated the end of fall harvest
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and the beginning of their new year with the pagan festival
0:25
Salween, which fell on November one.
0:28
On the night before the celebration commenced, the
0:30
dead were thought to travel back home for their
0:32
annual visit. To frighten away
0:34
any accompanying evil spirits, the
0:36
Celts lit fires around the countryside,
0:38
and some dressed in disguise when venturing
0:40
into the eerie outdoors to avoid being
0:42
recognized by familiar but less than friendly
0:45
ghosts. Traces of these rituals
0:47
persisted as these centuries wore on, and
0:49
even as the Catholic Church sought to abolish these
0:52
pagan pastimes. In the
0:54
eighth century, the Church began commemorating
0:56
the Feast of All Saints on November one, possibly
0:59
as a replacement or saween The
1:01
preceding day became known as All Hallows
1:03
Eve, which was further shortened to Halloween.
1:06
As the secular Saween and sacred
1:08
all Hollows intertwined. The dead
1:11
spirits that characterized the holiday assumed
1:13
more negative connotations, hence the
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modern Halloween icons of scary witches,
1:17
ghosts, and ghouls. To appease
1:20
these evil spirits, people left food
1:22
and drink outside to protect their homes from
1:24
spiritual retaliation. Gradually,
1:27
savvy celebrants took advantage of the tasty
1:29
offerings by dressing up as the dead and trekking
1:31
from door to door to ask for provisions
1:34
in exchange for protection from wicked spirits.
1:37
According to the American Folk Life Center, the
1:39
practice, which became known as mumming, served
1:41
as a precedent for trigger treating. In
1:44
England, the poor would organize soul parades
1:47
to beg for alms on All Hallows Eve
1:49
and exchange for prayers to deliver dead
1:51
souls from purgatory to heaven. As
1:54
the years war on, children took over the
1:56
tradition, calling themselves solars.
1:58
Bands of children would knock on doors and
2:00
sing songs in return for sweet current
2:03
topped breads called soul cakes. The
2:05
trigger treating custom crossed the Atlantic with
2:07
the influx of immigrants from England and Ireland
2:10
who moved to the United States in the mid eighteen
2:12
hundreds, but trigger treating
2:14
wasn't widely popular in the United States until
2:16
around nineteen forty. Before then,
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the mischievous holiday had spiraled
2:21
into an adolescent free for all, marked
2:23
by rampant vandalism and excessive
2:25
tom foolery. As communities
2:27
sought to provide alternate Halloween activities for
2:29
the local youth, trigger treating as we know
2:31
it today, gradually caught on. Retailers
2:34
also noticed the trend and began offering
2:36
ready made costumes, and candy manufacturers
2:39
seized on this golden opportunity.
2:41
In the late nineteen seventies and early eighties,
2:44
sensational reports of razors and candy
2:46
apples, treats laced with laxatives, and
2:48
other horror stories built a blow to trigger
2:50
treating. Nonetheless, the tradition
2:52
is still alive and well today. Just
2:55
ask the National Confectioners Association.
2:57
This pumpkin hued holiday takes the cake
2:59
for the highest candy sales of the year. Americans
3:03
are expected to shell out about nine billion
3:05
dollars for Halloween candy. But
3:08
in spite of Halloween's commercial appeal, those
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ancient Celtic rights still echo on as
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hordes of costume children trigger treat every
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year in the October Twilight. Today's
3:22
episode was written by Kristin Conger and produced
3:24
by Tyler Clang. To hear more from Kristin,
3:26
check out her podcast Unladylike They've
3:28
Got a book out too, And of course,
3:30
for more on this and lots of other treats, visit
3:33
our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com
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