Editing Trick-or-treating (section)

==History==

===Ancient precursors===
Traditions similar to the modern custom of trick-or-treating extend all the way back to [[classical antiquity]], although it is extremely unlikely that any of them are directly related to the modern custom. The ancient Greek writer [[Athenaeus]] of Naucratis records in his book ''[[The Deipnosophists]]'' that, in ancient times, the Greek island of [[Rhodes]] had a custom in which children would go from door-to-door dressed as swallows, singing a [[Swallow song of Rhodes|song]], which demanded the owners of the house to give them food and threatened to cause mischief if the owners of the house refused.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Turner|first1=Angela|title=Swallow|date=2015|publisher=Reaktion Books Ltd.|location=London|isbn=9781780235592|page=unpaginated|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VBbRCgAAQBAJ&q=swallow+song+of+Rhodes+trick-or-treating&pg=PT59}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Mathiesen|first1=Thomas J.|title=Apollo's Lyre: Greek Music and Music Theory in Antiquity and the Middle Ages|date=1999|publisher=University of Nebraska Press|location=Lincoln|isbn=978-1597407960|page=[https://archive.org/details/apolloslyregreek0000math/page/156 156]|url=https://archive.org/details/apolloslyregreek0000math|url-access=registration|quote=swallow song of Rhodes.}}</ref><ref>Athenaeus. ''Deipnosophists'' 8.360b-d.</ref> This tradition was claimed to have been started by the Rhodian lawgiver [[Cleobulus]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Dalby|first1=Andrew|article=Homer's Enemies: Lyric and Epic in the Seventh Century|title=Archaic Greece: New Approaches and New Evidence|date=1998|editor1-last=Fisher|editor1-first=Nick|editor2-last=van Wees|editor2-first=Hans|publisher=General Duckworth & Co. Ltd.|location=London|isbn=978-1-910589-58-8|page=204|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fARPDgAAQBAJ&q=swallow+song+of+Rhodes&pg=PA204}}</ref>

===Medieval Christian era===
====Souling====
[[File:Souling on Halloween.png|thumb|200px|"A soul-cake, a soul-cake, have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul-cake." — a popular English souling rhyme<ref name="Hall1847">{{cite book|last=Hall|first=Anna Maria|title=Sharpe's London Magazine|year=1847|page=12|quote=Aubrey relates that, in his time, in Shropshire, &c., there was set upon the board a high heap of soul-cakes, lying one upon another like the picture of the shewbread in the old Bibles. They were about the bigness of twopenny cakes, and every visitant on the feast of All Souls took one. He adds, "There is an old rhyme or saying, 'A soul-cake, a soul-cake, have mercy on all Christian souls for a soul-cake.'"}}</ref>]]

Starting as far back as the 15th century, among Christians, there had been a custom of sharing [[soul cake|soul-cakes]] at [[Allhallowtide]] (October 31 through November 2).<ref name="Jackson1995">{{cite book|last=Jackson|first=Jeanne L.|title=Red Letter Days: The Christian Year in Story for Primary Assembly|date=1995|publisher=[[Nelson Thornes]]|isbn=9780748719341|page=158|quote=Later, it became the custom for poorer Christians to offer prayers for the dead, in return for money or food (soul cakes) from their wealthier neighbours. People would go 'souling' – rather like carol singing – requesting alms or soul cakes: 'A soul, a soul, a soul cake, Please to give us a soul cake, One for Peter, two for Paul, have mercy on us Christians all.'}}</ref><ref name=hutton374-375>Hutton, pp. 374–375</ref> People would visit houses and take soul-cakes, either as representatives of the dead, or in return for praying for their souls.<ref>Cleene, Marcel. ''Compendium of Symbolic and Ritual Plants in Europe''. Man & Culture, 2002. p. 108. Quote: "Soul cakes were small cakes baked as food for the deceased or offered for the salvation of their souls. They were therefore offered at funerals and feasts of the dead, laid on graves, or given to the poor as representatives of the dead. The baking of these soul cakes is a universal practice".</ref> Later, people went "from parish to parish at Halloween, begging soul-cakes by singing under the windows some such verse as this: 'Soul, souls, for a soul-cake; Pray you good mistress, a soul-cake!'"<ref name=Dodge1883>{{cite book|title=St. Nicholas Magazine|editor=Mary Mapes Dodge|editor-link=Mary Mapes Dodge|year=1883|publisher=Scribner & Company|page=93|quote=Soul-cakes," which the rich gave to the poor at the Halloween season, in return for which the recipients prayed for the souls of the givers and their friends. And this custom became so favored in popular esteem that, for a long time, it was a regular observance in the country towns of England for small companies to go from parish to parish at Halloween, begging soul-cakes by singing under the windows some such verse as this: "Soul, souls, for a soul-cake; Pray you good mistress, a soul-cake!"|title-link=St. Nicholas Magazine}}</ref> They typically asked for "mercy on all Christian souls for a soul-cake".<ref name="Santino1994">{{cite book|last=Santino|first=Jack|title=Halloween and Other Festivals of Death and Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZLAqApMPMoEC&pg=PA84|access-date=28 October 2015|year=1994|publisher=University of Tennessee Press|isbn=9780870498138|page=84|quote=The begging ritual, taken up by nonindigents and by children, involved the recitation of a souling rhyme, which typically requested "mercy on all Christian souls for a soul cake."}}</ref> It was known as 'Souling' and was recorded in parts of Britain, Flanders, southern Germany, and Austria.<ref name=miles>Miles, Clement A. (1912). ''Christmas in Ritual and Tradition''. [http://www.sacred-texts.com/time/crt/crt11.htm Chapter 7: All Hallow Tide to Martinmas].</ref> [[Shakespeare]] mentions the practice in his comedy ''[[The Two Gentlemen of Verona]]'' (1593), when Speed accuses his master of "puling [whimpering or whining] like a beggar at Hallowmas".<ref>''The Two Gentlemen of Verona''. Act 2, Scene 1.</ref> In western England, mostly in the counties bordering Wales, souling was common.<ref name=hutton374-375/> According to one 19th century English writer "parties of children, dressed up in fantastic costume […] went round to the farm houses and cottages, singing a song, and begging for cakes (spoken of as "soal-cakes"), apples, money, or anything that the goodwives would give them".<ref>Publications, Volume 16 (English Dialect Society), Harvard University Press, p. 507</ref> In England, souling remained an important part of Allhallowtide observances until the 19th century, in both Protestant and Catholic areas.<ref name="Hood2014">{{cite book|last=Hood|first=Karen Jean Matsko|title=Halloween Delights|date=1 January 2014|publisher=Whispering Pine Press International|language=en |isbn=9781594341816|page=33|quote=The tradition continued in some areas of northern England as late as the 1930s, with children going from door to door "souling" for cakes or money by singing a song.}}</ref><ref name="Mosteller">{{cite book|last=Mosteller|first=Angie |title=Christian Origins of Halloween |date=2 July 2014|publisher=Rose Publishing |language=en |isbn=978-1596365353|quote=In Protestant regions souling remained an important occasion for soliciting food and money from rich neighbors in preparation for the coming cold and dark months.}}</ref>

The practice of giving and eating soul cakes continues in some countries today, such as Portugal (where it is known as [[Pão-por-Deus]] and occurs on All Hallows' Day and All Souls' Day), as well as the Philippines (where it is known as Pangangaluwa and occurs on All Hallows' Eve).<ref name="Fieldhouse2017">{{cite book|author= Paul Fieldhouse|title=Food, Feasts, and Faith: An Encyclopedia of Food Culture in World Religions|date=17 April 2017|publisher=[[ABC-CLIO]]|page=256}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author= Por Joaquim de Santa Rosa de Viterbó|title=Elucidario Das Palavras, Termos E Frases, que Em Portugal Antigamente Se Usaram|date=1865|publisher=A. J. Fernandes Lopes|page=[https://archive.org/details/elucidariodaspa00vitegoog/page/n642 265]|url=https://archive.org/details/elucidariodaspa00vitegoog|quote= dia dos fieis defuntos.}}</ref> In other countries, souling is seen as the origin of the practice of trick-or-treating.<ref name="Kullstroem2009">{{cite book|last=Kullstroem|first=Chris|title=Making a Monstrous Halloween: Themed Parties, Activities and Events|url=https://archive.org/details/makingmonstroush00kull|url-access=limited|date=27 May 2009|publisher=McFarland|language=en |isbn=9780786444380|page=[https://archive.org/details/makingmonstroush00kull/page/n93 85]|quote=The Halloween tradition of trick-or-treating started as a European Christian custom called souling.}}</ref> In the United States, some churches, during Allhallowtide, have invited people to come receive sweets from them and have offered to "pray for the souls of their friends, relatives or even pets" as they do so.<ref>{{cite web |title=Is Halloween a Christian event? |last=Nevares |first=Diana |date=29 October 2014 |url=http://standrews-pcusa.org/is-halloween-a-christian-event/ |publisher=St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church |language=en |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141029172021/http://standrews-pcusa.org/is-halloween-a-christian-event/ |archive-date=29 October 2014 |url-status=dead |quote=This Allhallowtide at St. Andrew’s, we are experimenting with a reverse of the "souling" tradition.  As children in the Gregory Gardens neighborhood come to St. Andrew’s collect candy, we are offering to pray for the souls of their friends, relatives or even pets.  On Sunday, when we celebrate All Saint’s Day we will include these prayers and remembrances along with the names of the saints who have passed away in the last year.}}</ref>

====Mumming====
Since the [[Middle Ages]], a tradition of [[mumming]] on a certain holiday has existed in parts of Britain and Ireland. It involved going door-to-door in costume, performing short scenes or parts of plays in exchange for food or drink. The custom of trick-or-treating on Halloween may come from the belief that supernatural beings, or the souls of the dead, roamed the earth at this time and needed to be appeased.

===Samhain===
It may otherwise have originated in a [[Celts|Celtic]] festival, ''[[Samhain]]'', held on 31 October–1 November, to mark the beginning of winter, in Ireland, Scotland and the [[Isle of Man]], and ''[[Calan Gaeaf]]'' in Wales, [[Cornwall]], and [[Brittany]]. The festival is believed to have pre-Christian roots. In the 9th century, the Catholic Church made 1 November [[All Saints' Day]]. Among Celtic-speaking peoples, it was seen as a liminal time, when the spirits or fairies (the ''[[Aos Sí]]''), and the souls of the dead, came into our world and were appeased with offerings of food and drink. Similar beliefs and customs were found in other parts of Europe. It is suggested that trick-or-treating evolved from a tradition whereby people impersonated the spirits, or the souls of the dead, and received offerings on their behalf. S. V. Peddle suggests they "personify the old spirits of the winter, who demanded reward in exchange for good fortune".<ref>Peddle, S. V. (2007). ''Pagan Channel Islands: Europe's Hidden Heritage''. p. 54</ref> Impersonating these spirits or souls was also believed to protect oneself from them.<ref>''British Folk Customs'', Christina Hole (1976), p. 91</ref>

===Guising===
{{Redirect|Guising}}[[File:Halloween Shop, Derry, September 2010 (02).JPG|thumb|upright|left|Halloween shop in [[Derry]], Northern Ireland. Halloween masks are called ‘false faces’ in Ireland and Scotland.]]
In Scotland and Ireland, "guising"&nbsp;– children going from door to door in disguise&nbsp;– is secular, and a gift in the form of food, coins or "apples or nuts for the Halloween party" (and in more recent times, chocolate) is given out to the children.<ref name="Irish Times"/><ref name="bannatyne">Bannatyne, Lesley Pratt (1998) [https://books.google.com/books?id=rNAXt9jLXWwC&dq=guising+SAMHAIN&pg=PA44 Forerunners to Halloween] Pelican Publishing Company. {{ISBN|1-56554-346-7}} p. 44</ref><ref>Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) "Festive Rights:Halloween in the British Isles". Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. p. 48. Oxford University Press. {{ISBN|0-19-514691-3}}</ref> The tradition is called "guising" because of the disguises or costumes worn by the children.<ref name="guising definition"/><ref>{{cite journal|author=Sarah Carpenter|date=December 2001|title=Scottish Guising: Medieval And Modern Theatre Games|url=http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/ijost/Volume2_no2/1_carpenter_s.htm|url-status=dead|journal=International Journal of Scottish Theatre|volume=2|issue=2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090924015205/http://www.arts.gla.ac.uk/ScotLit/ASLS/ijost/Volume2_no2/1_carpenter_s.htm|archive-date=2009-09-24|access-date=2008-10-06}}</ref> In the West Mid Scots dialect, guising is known as "galoshans".<ref>Galoshans at Hallowe'en / News / Talk of the Towns. ''Greenock Telegraph''. 27 Oct 2009. Retrieved 31 October 2011</ref> In Scotland, youths went house to house in white with masked, painted or blackened faces, reciting rhymes and often threatening to do mischief if they were not welcomed.<ref name="Campbell">Campbell, Oliver Frances (1900, 1902, 2005) ''The Gaelic Otherworld''. Edited by Ronald Black. Birlinn Ltd. {{ISBN|1-84158-207-7}} pp. 559–562</ref><ref name=ArnoldB>{{cite web |url=https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/barnold/www/lectures/holloween.html |title=Halloween Customs in the Celtic World |access-date=2007-10-16 |last=Arnold |first=Bettina |date=2001-10-31 |publisher=University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110624080404/https://pantherfile.uwm.edu/barnold/www/lectures/holloween.html |archive-date=2011-06-24 }}</ref>

Guising has been recorded in Scotland since the 16th century, often at New Year. The [[Session (Presbyterianism)|Kirk Session]] records of [[Elgin, Moray|Elgin]] name men and women who danced at New Year 1623. Six men, described as [[Mummers' play|guisers or "gwysseris"]] performed a [[sword dance]] wearing [[visard|masks and visors]] covering their faces in the churchyard and in the courtyard of a house. They were each fined 40 shillings.<ref>William Cramond, [https://archive.org/details/recordsofelgin02elgi/page/176/mode/2up ''The records of Elgin'', 2 (Aberdeen, 1903), pp. 176-7]</ref>

A record of guising at Halloween in Scotland in 1895 describes masqueraders in disguise carrying lanterns made out of scooped out turnips, visit homes to be rewarded with cakes, fruit, and money.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=x7_QAAAAMAAJ&q=Frank%20Leslie's%20popular%20monthly%201895%20Halloween&pg=PA540 |title=Frank Leslie's popular monthly, Volume 4|pages=540–543 |access-date=2012-10-10|last1=Leslie |first1=Frank |date=November 1895 }}</ref> In Ireland, children in costumes would commonly say "[[wikt:help the Halloween party|Help the Halloween Party]]" at the doors of homeowners.<ref name="Irish Times">{{cite news |title=Ten trick-or-treating facts for impressive bonfire chats |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/ten-trick-or-treating-facts-for-impressive-bonfire-chats-1.1983165 |date=31 October 2014 |newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]|quote=Scotland and Ireland started tricking: A few decades later a practice called ‘guising’ was in full swing in Scotland and Ireland. Short for ‘disguising’, children would go out from door to door dressed in costume and rather than pledging to pray, they would tell a joke, sing a song or perform another sort of “trick” in exchange for food or money. The expression trick or treat has only been used at front doors for the last 10 to 15 years. Before that "Help the Halloween Party" seems to have been the most popular phrase to holler.}}</ref><ref name="Journal.ie">{{cite news |title=11 struggles every Irish trick or treater remembers |url=https://www.dailyedge.ie/trick-or-treating-2403708-Oct2015/ |access-date=28 October 2020 |website=[[TheJournal.ie]]}}</ref> 

Halloween masks are referred to as "false faces" in Ireland and Scotland.<ref name="False face">{{cite news |title=Top ten Irish Halloween traditions and memories you may share|url=https://www.irishcentral.com/culture/craic/top-irish-halloween-memories-traditions |access-date=23 October 2018 |agency=Ireland Central}}</ref><ref name=DSL/> A writer using Scots language recorded guisers in Ayr, Scotland in 1890: {{quote|I had mind it was Halloween . . . the wee callans (boys) were at it already, rinning aboot wi’ their fause-faces (false faces) on and their bits o’ turnip lanthrons (lanterns) in their haun (hand).<ref name=DSL>{{cite web|url=http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?plen=1266&startset=21732206&query=Hallow_evin&fhit=hallow&dregion=form&dtext=dost#fhit |title=DOST: Hallow Evin |publisher=Dsl.ac.uk |access-date=13 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140429162756/http://www.dsl.ac.uk/getent4.php?plen=12718&startset=16840203&query=HALLOW&fhit=hallow&dregion=form&dtext=snd|archive-date=29 April 2014}}</ref> }} Guising also involved going to wealthy homes, and in the 1920s, boys went guising at Halloween up to the affluent Thorntonhall, [[South Lanarkshire]].<ref>John A. Walker (2002) [https://books.google.com/books?id=mSslH9mwx_8C&dq=guising+halloween&pg=PA14 Sergeant Jiggy] p. 14. Cosmos Original Productions, 2002</ref> An account of guising in the 1950s in Ardrossan, [[North Ayrshire]], records a child receiving 12 shillings and sixpence, having knocked on doors throughout the neighbourhood and performed.<ref name=gui>Stuart Christie (2002) [https://books.google.com/books?id=4_hsVYv0R5YC&dq=guising+halloween&pg=PA65 The cultural and political formation of a west of Scotland "baby-boomer", Volume 1] pp. 65–66. Retrieved 2010-11-11</ref>  Growing up in [[Derry]], Northern Ireland in the 1960s, ''[[The Guardian]]'' journalist Michael Bradley recalls children asking, “Any nuts or apples?”.<ref>{{cite news |first=Michael|last=Bradley|title=A very Derry Halloween: a carnival of frights, fireworks and parade |url=https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2018/oct/24/derry-halloween-europe-largest-carnival-of-frights-fireworks-parades |access-date=25 October 2018 |date=24 October 2018|newspaper=The Guardian}}</ref> In Scotland and Ireland, the children are only supposed to receive treats if they perform a party trick for the households they go to. This normally takes the form of singing a song or reciting a joke or a funny poem which the child has memorised before setting out.<ref name="bannatyne"/><ref name=gui/> While going from door to door in disguise has remained popular among Scots and Irish at Halloween, the North American saying "trick-or-treat" has become common in the 2000s.<ref name="Irish Times"/><ref name="Journal.ie"/>

===Spread to North America===
[[File:Waterdown Public School, Ontario, 1928 halloween costume.jpg|170px|thumb|Girl in a Halloween costume in 1928 in [[Ontario, Canada]], the same province where the Scottish Halloween custom of "guising" is first recorded in North America]]
Author Nicholas Rogers cites an early example of guising in North America in 1911, where a newspaper in [[Kingston, Ontario]], Canada, reported children going "guising" around the neighborhood.<ref>Rogers, Nicholas. (2002) "Coming Over:Halloween in North America". ''Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night''. p. 76. Oxford University Press, 2002, {{ISBN|0-19-514691-3}}</ref> The article itself details the practice as such:
{{quote|Between six and seven o'clock, the children began to appear in the streets, disguised with all kinds of masks and costumes. The usual programme of visiting the corner groecery stores, hotels and private residences was carried out, the youngesters efforts as elecutionists and vocalists being rewarded with money, apples, nuts, etc.<ref>{{cite news |title=Halloween was Observed |url=https://newscomwc.newspapers.com/image/784257829 |access-date=4 November 2024 |work=The Daily British Whig |date=1 November 1911}}</ref>}}

American historian and author [[Ruth Edna Kelley]] of Massachusetts wrote the first book length history of the holiday in the United States; ''The Book of Hallowe'en'' (1919), and references souling in the chapter "Hallowe'en in America"; "The taste in Hallowe'en festivities now is to study old traditions, and hold a Scotch party, using [[Robert Burns|Burn's]] poem ''[[Halloween (poem)|Hallowe'en]]'' as a guide; or to go a-souling as the English used. In short, no custom that was once honored at Hallowe'en is out of fashion now."<ref>Kelley, Ruth Edna Kelley. ''The Book of Hallowe'en'', Boston: Lothrop, Lee and Shepard Co., 1919, chapter 15, p. 127. "[https://books.google.com/books?id=pDraHi4-PpgC&dq=Ruth+Edna+Kelley+The+Book+of+Hallowe%27en+a-souling&pg=PA127 Hallowe'en in America]."</ref> Kelley lived in [[Lynn, Massachusetts]], a town with 4,500 Irish immigrants, 1,900 English immigrants, and 700 Scottish immigrants in 1920.<ref>U.S. Census, January 1, 1920, State of Massachusetts, City of Lynn.</ref> In her book, Kelley touches on customs that arrived from across the Atlantic;  "Americans have fostered them, and are making this an occasion something like what it must have been in its best days overseas. All Hallowe'en customs in the United States are borrowed directly or adapted from those of other countries".<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.sacred-texts.com/pag/boh/boh17.htm| title = Kelley, Ruth Edna. ''Hallowe'en in America''}}</ref>

While the first reference to "guising" in North America occurs in 1911, another reference to ritual begging on Halloween appears, place unknown, in 1915, with a third reference in Chicago in 1920.<ref>Wright, Theo. E., "A Halloween Story," ''St. Nicholas'', October 1915, p. 1144. Mae McGuire Telford, "What Shall We Do Halloween?" ''[[Ladies Home Journal]]'', October 1920, p. 135.</ref>

===The interjection "Trick or treat!"===

The interjection "Trick or treat!" — a request for sweets or candy, originally and sometimes still with the implication that anyone who is asked and who does not provide sweets or other treats will be subjected to a prank or practical joke — seems to have arisen in central Canada, before spreading into the northern and western United States in the 1930s and across the rest of the United States through the 1940s and early 1950s.<ref>{{Cite OED|trick or treat, ''int.'' and ''n.''}}.</ref>  Initially it was often found in variant forms, such as "tricks or treats," which was used in the earliest known case, a 1917 report in ''[[The Sault Star|The Sault Daily Star]]'' in [[Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario]]:<ref name="SooToday">{{cite news |last=Flood |first=Alex |date=October 31, 2022 |title=Origin of Phrase 'Trick-or-treat' in Print Traced to the Sault |url=https://www.sootoday.com/rooted/origin-of-phrase-trick-or-treat-in-print-traced-to-the-sault-6033664 |work=SooToday |location=Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario |access-date=November 6, 2022}}</ref>

<blockquote>Almost everywhere you went last night, particularly in the early part of the evening, you would meet gangs of youngsters out to celebrate.  Some of them would have adopted various forms of "camouflage" such as masks, or would appear in long trousers and big hats or with long skirts.  But others again didn't. . . . "Tricks or treats" you could hear the gangs call out, and if the householder passed out the "coin" for the "treats" his establishment would be immune from attack until another gang came along that knew not of or had no part in the agreement.<ref name="Phrase">{{cite web |author=<!--not stated--> |date=November 1, 1917 |title=Hallowe'en and Snow Is Unusual Combination Here |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/94305951/halloween-tricks-or-treats-1917/ |work=[[The Sault Star|The Sault Daily Star]] |location=Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=October 20, 2022}}.</ref></blockquote>

[[File:Trick or Treating - Beaumont, California (1950).png|thumb|upright|Newspaper clipping of kids trick-or-treating in [[Beaumont, California|Beaumont]] in 1950]]

As shown by word sleuth [[Barry Popik]],<ref name="Zimmer">{{cite news |last=Zimmer |first=Ben |date=October 31, 2015 |title=Word on the Street: 'Tricks or Treats' Goes Singular |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/tricks-or-treats-goes-singular-1446228817 |work=[[Wall Street Journal]] |page=C.4 |access-date=November 6, 2022}}</ref> who also found the first use from 1917,<ref name="SooToday" /> variant forms continued, with "trick or a treat" found in [[Chatsworth, Ontario]] in 1921,<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=November 3, 1921 |title=Quiet Hallowe'en; Chatsworth Boys and Girls Were on Good Behavior That Night |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91012010/treat-or-a-trick-in-owen-sound/ |work=[[The Sun Times (Owen Sound)|Owen Sound Sun-Times]] |location=[[Owen Sound, Ontario]] |page=3 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=November 6, 2022}}</ref> "treat up or tricks" and "treat or tricks" found in [[Edmonton, Alberta]] in 1922,<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=November 2, 1922 |title="Treat or Tricks" Hallowe'en Slogan Was Out of Place |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/86674568/trick-or-treat-treat-or-trick/ |work=[[Edmonton Bulletin]] |location=[[Edmonton, Alberta]] |page=6 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=November 6, 2022}}</ref> and "treat or trick" in [[Penhold, Alberta]] in 1924.<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=November 7, 1924 |title=Penhold |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/36037609/trick-or-treat-for-halloween-1924/ |work=Red Deer Advocate |location=[[Red Deer, Alberta]] |page=4 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=November 6, 2022}}</ref>  The now canonical form of "trick or treat" was first seen in 1917 in Chatsworth, only one day after the Sault Ste. Marie use,<ref>{{cite news |author=<!--not stated--> |date=November 2, 1917 |title=Chatsworth |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/91017340/treat-or-tricktrick-or-treat-in/ |work=[[The Sun Times (Owen Sound)|Owen Sound Sun]] |location=[[Owen Sound, Ontario]] |page=2 |via=Newspapers.com |access-date=November 6, 2022}}</ref> but "tricks or treats" was still in use in the 1966 television special, ''[[It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown]]''.<ref name="Zimmer" />

The thousands of [[Halloween card|Halloween postcards]] produced between the start of the 20th century and the 1920s commonly show children but do not depict trick-or-treating.<ref>For examples, see the websites [http://www.emotionscards.com/museum/hallow1.html Postcard & Greeting Card Museum: Halloween Gallery], [http://www.shaktiweb.com/postcards/ Antique Hallowe'en Postcards], [http://antiques.about.com/od/collectingbookspaper/ig/Halloween-Postcard-Gallery/index.htm Vintage Halloween Postcards] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080723183011/http://antiques.about.com/od/collectingbookspaper/ig/Halloween-Postcard-Gallery/index.htm |date=2008-07-23 }}, and [http://www.morticiasmorgue.com/hw/hw3.html Morticia's Morgue Antique Halloween Postcards].</ref> The editor of a collection of over 3,000 vintage Halloween postcards writes, "There are cards which mention the custom [of trick-or-treating] or show children in costumes at the doors, but as far as we can tell they were printed later than the 1920s and more than likely even the 1930s. Tricksters of various sorts are shown on the early postcards, but not the means of appeasing them".<ref>E-mail from Louise and Gary Carpentier, 29 May 2007, editors of ''Halloween Postcards Catalog'' (CD-ROM), G & L Postcards.</ref>

Trick-or-treating does not seem to have become a widespread practice until the 1930s, with the first appearance in the United States of the term in 1928,<ref>{{Cite news |date=1 November 1928 |title=Tricks or Treats? |url=https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Tricks_or_treats_1928.jpg |work=The Bay City Daily Times |pages=3}}</ref> and the first known use in a national publication occurring in 1939.<ref>Moss, Doris Hudson. "A Victim of the Window-Soaping Brigade?" ''The American Home'', November 1939, p. 48. Moss was a California-based writer.</ref>

Behavior similar to trick-or-treating was more commonly associated with [[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving]] from 1870 (shortly after that holiday's formalization) until the 1930s. In New York City, a Thanksgiving ritual known as [[Ragamuffin parade|Ragamuffin Day]] involved children dressing up as beggars and asking for treats, which later evolved into dressing up in more diverse costumes.<ref name="NYPL">{{cite news|last=Nigro|first=Carmen|title=Thanksgiving Ragamuffin Parade|publisher=New York Public Library|url=https://www.nypl.org/blog/2010/11/23/thanksgiving-ragamuffin-parade|date=November 23, 2010|access-date=January 6, 2017}}</ref><ref name="NYT1947">{{cite news|title=Ragamuffin Parades Mark Holiday in City|url=https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1947/11/28/99278359.pdf|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 28, 1947|access-date=January 6, 2017}}</ref> Increasing hostility toward the practice in the 1930s eventually led to the begging aspects being dropped, and by the 1950s, the tradition as a whole had ceased.

===Increased popularity===
Almost all pre-1940 uses of the term "trick-or-treat" are from the United States and Canada. Trick-or-treating spread throughout the United States, stalled only by [[World War II]] [[Rationing in the United States#World War II|sugar rationing]] that began in April, 1942 and lasted until June, 1947.<ref>{{cite book |last= Morton|first= Lisa|date= 2012|title= Trick or Treat a history of halloween|publisher= Reaktion Books|page= 64|isbn= 9781780231877}}</ref><ref>[https://archive.today/20130204171021/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,773156,00.html "One Lump Please"], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', March 30, 1942. [https://archive.today/20120915070412/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,797966,00.html "Decontrolled"], ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'', June 23, 1947.</ref>

[[File:A82d 1.JPG|thumb|upright|Magazine advertisement in 1962]]
Early national attention to trick-or-treating was given in October, 1947 issues of the children's magazines ''[[Jack and Jill (magazine)|Jack and Jill]]'' and ''Children's Activities'',<ref>Published in [[Indianapolis, Indiana]] and [[Chicago, Illinois]], respectively.</ref> and by Halloween episodes of the network radio programs ''[[The Baby Snooks Show]]'' in 1946 and ''[[Jack Benny|The Jack Benny Show]]'' and ''[[The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet]]'' in 1948.<ref>''The Baby Snooks Show'', November 1, 1946, and ''The Jack Benny Show'', October 31, 1948, both originating from [[NBC Radio City Studios|NBC Radio City]] in [[Hollywood, Los Angeles, California|Hollywood]]; and ''The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet'', October 31, 1948, originating from [[CBS Columbia Square]] in Hollywood.</ref> Trick-or-treating was depicted in the ''[[Peanuts]]'' comic strip in 1951.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1951/11/01 |title=Peanuts Comic Strip on GoComics.com |publisher=Comics.com |date=2000-02-13 |access-date=2012-10-10}}</ref> The custom had become firmly established in popular culture by 1952, when [[Walt Disney]] portrayed it in the cartoon ''[[Trick or Treat (1952 film)|Trick or Treat]]'', and Ozzie and Harriet were besieged by trick-or-treaters on an episode of their television show.<ref>"[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0506096/ Halloween Party]," ''The Adventures of Ozzie & Harriet'', Oct. 31, 1952.</ref> In 1953 [[UNICEF]] first conducted a [[Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF|national campaign]] for children to raise funds for the charity while trick-or-treating.<ref>"A Barrel of Fun for Halloween Night," ''Parents Magazine'', October 1953, p. 140. "They're Changing Halloween from a Pest to a Project," ''[[The Saturday Evening Post]]'', October 12, 1957, p. 10.</ref>

Although some popular histories of Halloween have characterized trick-or-treating as an adult invention to re-channel Halloween activities away from [[Mischief Night]] vandalism, there are very few records supporting this. [[Des Moines]], [[Iowa]] is the only area known to have a record of trick-or-treating being used to deter crime.<ref>"[http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/ENT/41007010/1001/NEWS "Des Moines Register] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130121091418/http://www.desmoinesregister.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/99999999/ENT/41007010/1001/NEWS |date=2013-01-21 }}," ''Jokes set local Halloween apart '', Oct. 2000.</ref> Elsewhere, adults, as reported in newspapers from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s, typically saw it as a form of [[extortion]], with reactions ranging from bemused indulgence to anger.<ref>Editorial, ''Spokane Daily Chronicle'', November 6, 1935, p.&nbsp;4:
:In plain fact it is straight New York or Chicago "graft" or "racket" in miniature. Certainly it wouldn't be a good idea for youngsters to go in extensively for this kind of petty "blackmail" on any other date than Halloween. Neither police nor public opinion would stand for that.
"A. Mother", letter to the editor, ''[[The Fresno Bee]]'', November 7, 1941, p.&nbsp;20:
:As a mother of two children I wish to register indignation at the "trick or treat" racket imposed on residents on Hallowe'en night by the youngsters of this city.… This is pure and simple blackmail and it is a sad state of affairs when parents encourage their youngsters to participate in events of this kind.
Mrs. B. G. McElwee, letter to the editor, ''Washington Post'', Nov. 11, 1948, p.&nbsp;12:
:The Commissioners and District of Columbia officials should enact a law to prohibit "beggars night" at Hallowe'en. It is making gangsters of children.… If the parents of these children were fined not less than $25 for putting their children out to beg, they would entertain their children at home.
"M.E.G.", letter to column "Ask Anne", ''Washington Post'', Nov. 21, 1948, p. S11:
: I have lived in some 20 other towns and cities and I never saw nor heard of the begging practice until about 1936.… The sooner it becomes obsolete here the better. I don't mind the tiny children who want to show off their costumes, but I resent the impudence of the older children.
Lucy Powell Seay, letter to the editor, ''Washington Post'', Oct. 29, 1949, p.&nbsp;8:
:Another year has rolled around and the nightmare of having to put up with the "trick or treat" idea again fills me with dread.</ref> Likewise, as portrayed on radio shows, children would have to explain what trick-or-treating was to puzzled adults, and not the other way around. Sometimes even the children protested: for Halloween 1948, members of the Madison Square Boys Club in New York City carried a parade banner that read "[[Boys and Girls Clubs of America|American Boys]] Don't Beg."<ref>Recalled a decade later by Martin Tolchin, "Halloween A Challenge To Parents," ''[[The New York Times]]'', October 27, 1958, p. 35.</ref> The [[National Confectioners Association]] reported in 2005 that 80 percent of adults in the United States planned to give out confectionery to trick-or-treaters,<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080103002853/http://www.candyusa.org/Media/Seasonal/Halloween/pr_2005.asp Trick-or-treaters can expect Mom or Dad’s favorites in their bags this year], National Confectioners Association, 2005.</ref> and that 93 percent of children, teenagers, and young adults planned to go trick-or-treating or participating in other Halloween activities.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20080103002846/http://www.candyusa.org/Classroom/Facts/default.asp?Fact=Halloween Fun Facts: Halloween], National Confectioners Association, 2004.</ref>

===Phrase introduction to the United Kingdom and Ireland===
Despite the concept of trick-or-treating originating in Britain and Ireland in the form of souling and guising, the use of the term "trick or treat" at the doors of homeowners was not common until the 1980s, with its popularisation in part through the release of the film ''[[E.T.]]''<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/lifestyle/6507404/Halloween-trick-treat-and-a-total-travesty.html “Halloween: trick, treat and a total travesty?”]. ''The Telegraph''. Retrieved 28 October 2020</ref> Guising requires those going door-to-door to perform a song or poem without any jocular threat,<ref name=gui/> and according to one BBC journalist, in the 1980s, "trick or treat" was still often viewed as an exotic and not particularly welcome import, with the [[BBC]] referring to it as "the [[Japanese knotweed]] of festivals" and [[Extortion|"making demands with menaces"]].<ref>Coughlan, Sean. "[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/7067804.stm The Japanese knotweed of festivals]", BBC News Magazine, 31 October 2007.</ref> In Ireland before the phrase "trick or treat" became common in the 2000s, children would say "[[wikt:help the Halloween party|Help the Halloween Party]]".<ref name="Irish Times"/> Very often, the phrase "trick or treat" is simply said and the revellers are given sweets, with the choice of a trick or a treat having been discarded.