trick or treat / beggar's night

(Originally posted 7 November 2021)

Trick or treating is the custom of children going from door to door in costume on Halloween begging for candy or other sweets. The trick is a threat of mischief or minor vandalism that will be delivered upon the household if the treat is not forthcoming. But trick or treat is not the first such custom; it was preceded by beggar’s night.

The earliest reference to a beggar’s night that I have found is in a 1909 story by Newton Fuessle titled “The Beggar’s Big Night.” The story, which appeared in several newspapers on or about 19 September 1909 is about a tramp who crashes a fancy-dress party:

As the evening wore on Tom had chucked a dainty creature, clad in the dazzling attire of a princess, under the chin, and princess and pauper had proceeded, arm in arm, to the punch bowl. He had held interesting conversations with a dozen of the merry-makers, only to feel a growing depression that his beggar’s night must end at all.

This might be a reference to a literal beggar’s night, a lucky night for a tramp or beggar, except that a month later the following appears in the Portsmouth Herald (New Hampshire) in reference to events to be held in nearby Eliot, Maine:

The young folks are already beginning to talk of what they will be able to have in the way of sport on “beggars’ night” Nov. 24.

And it seems that in Portsmouth region the begging for sweets happened on the night before Thanksgiving, not on Halloween.

Some fifteen years later, we get a reference to a beggar’s night held on Halloween, but in this case, it is from Iowa. And the tradition of celebrating beggar’s night at Halloween was common across the North and North Midland region of the United States but was especially prevalent in Ohio and Iowa. From the Fort Madison, Iowa Evening Democrat of 31 October 1924:

All week the ever restless youth of the city has been active. Last night was beggar’s night. The night before was picket night. But all these are preliminary—and mild too—tonight, the night of all nocturnal prank festivities.

And from the same paper of 27 October 1933:

The business of starting Hallowe’en a week before the date becomes obnoxious to most folks. It used to be that beggars’ night was staged the night before Hallowe’en. Now the practice is engaged in a week previous to the big event. Many folk are growing tired of having to go to the door 15 or 20 times a night to hear the request from grotesque figures: “We want something to eat.”

An advertisement for the Durand and Son grocery store in New Jersey’s Mount Holly News of 27 October 1914 alludes to the practice using both treat and trick, although not in combination with each other:

HALLOWE’EN

The time when all the Spirits and Fairies of another world seem to come to earth and revel in their pranks and tricks upon us mortals.

Treat them kindly, give them something to eat and they will do you no harm.

This text is followed by a list of items, such as apples, pretzels, cider, dates, grapes, and nuts that can be purchased from Durand and Son to give to the little beggars to ward off damage.

The use of treat in combination with trick is first recorded on the prairies of Canada. Researcher Barry Popik turned up this use from the Edmonton Bulletin of 2 November 1922, in an article about how little vandalism had occurred a few nights earlier:

“TREAT OR TRICKS” HALLOWE’EN SLOGAN WAS OUT OF PLACE

“Treat up or tricks,” the ultimatum on the part of young Canada which is usually associated with Hallowe’en was on Tuesday evening apparently in the same classification as those proclamations broadcasted to the Turks—no one took particular notice of it.

The Leader-Post of Regina, Saskatchewan also alluded to the practice without actually stating it on 2 November 1923:

Hallowe’en passed off very quietly here. “Treats” not “tricks” were the order of the evening.

And the Saskatoon Daily Star does the same thing on the next day:

Hallowe’en was celebrated here in a lively fashion. Numerous parties were held throughout the town and the usual battalions of children covered all sections of the town demanding treats or else suffering the dire penalty of tricks for refusal.

The phrase trick or treat itself, used as the greeting at the door, appears in the Calgary Daily Herald (Alberta) on 3 November 1927:

Hallowe’en came and went and was observed most circumspectly in town, without the usual depredations. The greatest activity was manifested by the very young, who wandered in droves from door to door, heavily disguised and demanding “trick or treat.” To treat was to be untricked, and the youthful hold-up men soon returned home bowed down with treats.

And the Lethbridge Herald (Alberta) also uses the phrase the next day:

Hallowe’en provided an opportunity for real strenuous fun. No real damage was done except to the temper of some who had to hunt for wagon wheels, gates, wagons, barrels, etc., much of which decorated the front street. The youthful tormentors were at back door and front demanding edible plunder by the word “trick or treat” to which the inmates gladly responded and sent the robbers away rejoicing.

By 31 October 1932 we get a record of the phrase being used in the United States. From the Morning Oregonian of that date:

“Trick or Treat?” the youthful mischief-maker will say this evening, probably, as he rings the doorbell of a neighbor. Or he may not stop to warn the innocent householder, but will proceed to soap his windows, steal his door mat, uproot his precious shrubs or place his garbage can on the front porch. That is, the youngster will behave in this manner if his parents turn him loose to express himself by having “a little childish fun,” and if the policeman on the beat doesn’t happen to show the lad the difference between fun and vandalism.

And by 1938 the practice itself is being labeled trick or treat. From the Los Angeles Times of 30 October 1938:

“Trick or treat!” is the Halloween hijacking game hundreds of Southern California youngsters will play tomorrow night as they practice streamlined versions of traditional Allhallows Eve pranks.

The preparations are simple: a bar of soap, some old films and a couple of Times funny papers clipped into confetti. From house to house the boys and girls will travel, punching doorbells with nerve-jangling peals.

But the practice was not yet universally recognized, as can be seen from a pair of notes in the journal American Notes and Queries from the early 1940s. From the March 1942 issue answering a question about beggar’s night:

The local equivalent here (Decatur, Illinois) is “Trick or treat.” The custom is the same: children masked and in costume knock at front doors and greet the host with “Trick or treat!” (in a somewhat disguised voice). The proposal is, obviously, a mild kind of blackmail in which—whatever the motives—the treats are always forthcoming!

And answering the same query in November 1944 (remember, things were slower before the internet):

I had never heard of "Beggars' Night" until I saw it "in action" on Halloween this year at Tacoma, Washington, where, I am told, it has been going on for some time. After dark, children ring doorbells and present their "Trick or treat" ultimatum.

But in the late 1940s and 1950s the practice became universal across the United States under the rubric of trick or treat, although beggar’s night still hangs on as a regional appellation. And since then, it has spread outside of North America as well.

Sources:

American Notes & Queries, 1.12, March 1942, 191–92. HathiTrust Digital Archive.

———, 4.8, November 1944, 125. HathiTrust Digital Archive.

Dictionary of American Regional English, 2013, s.v. beggar’s night, n.

“Events of Eliot.” The Portsmouth Herald (New Hampshire), 19 October 1909, 1. NewspaperArchive.com.

Fuessle, Newton A. “The Beggar’s Big Night” (syndicated). Illustrated Sunday Magazine of the Gazette Times (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), 19 September 1909, 9. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

“Hallowe’en” (advertisement). Mount Holly News (New Jersey), 27 October 1914, 2. Library of Congress, Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers.

“Hallowe’en Celebrations.” Saskatoon Daily Star (Saskatchewan), 3 November 1923, 24. Newspapers.com.

“Halloween Pranks Plotted by Youngsters of Southland.” Los Angeles Times, 30 October 1938, A8. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

“High River News.” Calgary Daily Herald (Alberta), 3 November 1927, 22. ProQuest Historical Newspapers.

“Madisonia.” Evening Democrat (Fort Madison, Iowa), 27 October 1933, 4. NewspaperArchive.com.

Miller, Marian. “Halloween Jollity Within Reason Need [sic].” The Morning Oregonian, 31 October 1932, 8. NewsBank: America’s Historical Newspapers.

Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989, s.v. trick, n.

Popik, Barry. “Trick or Treat.” The Big Apple, 18 September 2008.

“Rouleau L.O.B.A. Bid Farewell to Mrs. M’Ewen.” The Leader-Post (Regina, Saskatchewan), 2 November 1923, 3. Newspapers.com.

“Special Cops Will Keep Close Watch Hallowe’en Gangs.” Evening Democrat (Fort Madison, Iowa), 31 October 1924, 8. NewspaperArchive.com.

“‘Treat or Tricks’ Hallowe’en Slogan Was Out of Place.” Edmonton Bulletin (Alberta), 2 November 1922, 6. Newspapers.com.

“‘Trick or Treat’ Is Demand.” Lethbridge Herald (Alberta), 4 November 1927, 5. NewspaperArchive.com.

Photo Credit: Don Scarborough, 1979. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.5 Generic license.