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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

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doors demanding candy. Once a year, we

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must rewind the clock a couple of millennia

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and visit the ancient Celtic clans of Britain.

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The Celts celebrated the end of fall harvest

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and the beginning of their new year with the pagan festival

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Salween, which fell on November one.

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On the night before the celebration commenced, the

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dead were thought to travel back home for their

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annual visit. To frighten away

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any accompanying evil spirits, the

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Celts lit fires around the countryside,

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and some dressed in disguise when venturing

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into the eerie outdoors to avoid being

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recognized by familiar but less than friendly

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ghosts. Traces of these rituals

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persisted as these centuries wore on, and

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even as the Catholic Church sought to abolish these

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pagan pastimes. In the

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eighth century, the Church began commemorating

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the Feast of All Saints on November one, possibly

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as a replacement or saween The

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preceding day became known as All Hallows

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Eve, which was further shortened to Halloween.

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As the secular Saween and sacred

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all Hollows intertwined. The dead

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spirits that characterized the holiday assumed

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more negative connotations, hence the

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modern Halloween icons of scary witches,

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ghosts, and ghouls. To appease

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these evil spirits, people left food

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and drink outside to protect their homes from

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spiritual retaliation. Gradually,

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savvy celebrants took advantage of the tasty

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offerings by dressing up as the dead and trekking

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from door to door to ask for provisions

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in exchange for protection from wicked spirits.

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According to the American Folk Life Center, the

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practice, which became known as mumming, served

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as a precedent for trigger treating. In

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England, the poor would organize soul parades

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to beg for alms on All Hallows Eve

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and exchange for prayers to deliver dead

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souls from purgatory to heaven. As

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the years war on, children took over the

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tradition, calling themselves solars.

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Bands of children would knock on doors and

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sing songs in return for sweet current

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topped breads called soul cakes. The

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trigger treating custom crossed the Atlantic with

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the influx of immigrants from England and Ireland

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who moved to the United States in the mid eighteen

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hundreds, but trigger treating

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wasn't widely popular in the United States until

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around nineteen forty. Before then,

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the mischievous holiday had spiraled

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into an adolescent free for all, marked

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by rampant vandalism and excessive

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tom foolery. As communities

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sought to provide alternate Halloween activities for

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the local youth, trigger treating as we know

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it today, gradually caught on. Retailers

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also noticed the trend and began offering

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ready made costumes, and candy manufacturers

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seized on this golden opportunity.

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In the late nineteen seventies and early eighties,

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sensational reports of razors and candy

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apples, treats laced with laxatives, and

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other horror stories built a blow to trigger

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treating. Nonetheless, the tradition

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is still alive and well today. Just

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ask the National Confectioners Association.

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This pumpkin hued holiday takes the cake

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for the highest candy sales of the year. Americans

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are expected to shell out about nine billion

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dollars for Halloween candy. But

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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

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episode was written by Kristin Conger and produced

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by Tyler Clang. To hear more from Kristin,

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check out her podcast Unladylike They've

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Got a book out too, And of course,

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for more on this and lots of other treats, visit

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our home planet, how Stuff Works dot com