PUMPKIN LIGHTS - Trick or Treat

Trick or Treat for Halloween Night, at Pumpkin Lights they can't be beat!

Trick or Treat, You're so neat, Give me something good to eat! (Sound familiar?)
This is the ultimatum given by children who call on houses to solicit goodies and treats on Halloween.

There are many stories to how Trick or Treating may have begun.
People once believed that on Halloween spirits walked the earth and tried to play tricks on the people.
People or children tried to fool the spirits by putting on costumes. One Halloween a group of costumed children visited a neighbor. When she answered the door, she thought they were spirits trying to fool her. She gave them food and money in hopes that they would leave. The children in costume were surprised, thanked the neighbor and went on to the next when the same thing happened. It was so much fun "Fooling the Spirits" that they decided to do it every Halloween.

Another theory about how trick or treating started is that people wanted to welcome friendly spirits
by giving them soul cakes which they baked. When children came to their door dressed in costumes on All Hallows Eve,
they were given "Soul Cakes" in return for saying prayers for the neighbor.

In countries such as Scotland, Children would wear a disguise and proceed from house to house
performing, singing, reciting a poem or joke in return for a treat or some money. This was called "Guising".

The idea of dressing up in costumes and begging for treats from door to door goes back to the Middle Ages.
Poor people would go from door to door on All Souls Day or All Hallows Day receiving food in return for prayers for the dead.
This originated in the British Isles and is still popular in Ireland and some parts of Scotland and England.
This practice was called "Souling".

There is no evidence of anything mentioning Trick or Treating in the United States until the late 1930s or 1940s and
It seems to have spread from the Western United States Eastward. In 1952, Walt Disney portrayed Trick or Treat
in a cartoon, and UNICEF first conducted its National campaign for children to raise funds for Charity on Halloween.
Since then, Halloween and the three Words "Trick Or Treat" have become quite commonplace in
The United States on Halloween Night.

Pumpkinlights.com has everything you need before you go out and Trick or Treat!