Get Your H.A.T.

Halloween started in Ireland, believed to be 2,000 years ago. Pre-Christian Celtic festival of Samhain was made because they believed the dead returned on that night. So people would gather to light bonfires, offer sacrifices, and pay homage to the dead. That day was October 31. During these celebrations, some villagers disguised themselves in costumes made of animals to drive away the phantom visitors. Banquet tables were left prepared with food to placate the unwelcome spirits. In later centuries, people began to dress as ghosts, demons, and other malevolent creatures, performing antics in exchange for food and drinks.

Trick or treating is thought to be mumming, beginning in the Middle Ages. On Halloween night, poor families would go to wealthier families houses and receive pastries called soul cakes. In exchange, the receivers must pray for them and their dead relatives. That was known as “souling.” The practice was later taken up by children, who would go from door to door asking for gifts such as food, money, and ale. Later on, the children, rather than praying for them, they would sing a song, recite a poem, tell a joke, or perform some other kind of “trick” before collecting their treat.

When the Irish immigrated into North America, they brought their Halloween tradition of using vegetables to scare spirits away. In the fall they began to use pumpkins. Soon they started using pumpkins to scare away evil spirits, developed into carving them.

The origin of pumpkin patches is murky, but it began in the 1920’s. They began to get more popular during post-world-war II.

In Milan, New Mexico , they held their usual pumpkin patch. They had booths, bouncy houses, and of course the pumpkins. Many people enjoyed it and made sure to get their child a free pumpkin for ages twelve and under. People soon began to see pumpkins carved or painted. Halloween night many people of many ages trick or treated, enjoying filling their bags up with delicious goods. And as usual many people from kids to adults were dressed up. Costumes range from kittens, heroes, to monsters. Although there were only a few trunk-or-treats, there sure was a lot of candy on Halloween night.