Soul Cakes or souling was an activity young persons would participate in during the late 17th and early 18th centuries in places like Ireland, Scotland, Britian and the north of France. Young people would go door to door in masks to the houses of the rich people in town and ring the door bells, or knock loudly at the front door. When the door opened, they would yell commandingly, ‘Soul Cakes!’ The homeowners would give out small cakes, like cup cakes in exchange for the person at the door to say a prayer for the soul of one of the homeowners dead loved ones. The custom was established not only for the souls of the lost, but to give opportunity to a poor person to get food, and for the wealthy to feel like they were doing something for the poor.
When Irish and Scottish immigrants came to the United States, they brought many of the old Celtic ways with them. By the 19th century, even though ‘Soul Cakes’ was celebrated by the thousands, the tradition was changed or Americanized. The conservative Christians did not want people roaming the neighborhoods at night promising a prayer for food, but they did not object to having the name and the mechanics of the act reworked. In the 1920’s Soul Caking became known as ‘Trick or Treat!’ There was still a gentlemanly exchange of goods and acts, but in this case it was not a pray in exchange for food scenario. The idea behind the original ‘Trick or Treat’ was that if the person behind the door when it open wasn’t with the program, a ‘trick’ would be played on them. The trick usually came from outside of the house. A bed of flowers was trampled under, a garage wall was vandalized, or trash was dumped on the lawn. This eventually involved the use of toilet paper. However, if the homeowner gave a treat, the trick was belayed. Unless the treat did not satisfy the person in the mask. In that case, the magnitude of the trick had to match the lackluster of the treat. It often even surpassed a level of good taste. When that happened usually the local police were involved.
It wasn’t until 1951 that the idea of children and young adults roaming the neighborhoods in costume, well past eight o’clock at night and gathering a plethora of treats became mainstream popular. As they prowled about, they schemed and planned on how their next visit would yield a higher payload than the last. Like the Celtics and their Soul Cake tradition, the Halloweener’s of the 20th century wanted their fill of booty without having top do too much work for it. The barter here was not a cake for a prayer, it was even easier than that. There was no praying involved, just a simple cry of, “Trick or treat!” It was those magic words that brought on a yield of some of the best candy the local areas could offer. For those early forerunners of the scam that is now the second largest and second most commercially successful holiday in America it was an evening that they could never had imagined. Nor is it anything like the Celtics could ever dream of.
Their holiday honoring their dead relatives and the restless souls of the unwanted and uncertain has certainly come into full power and enjoys a seat at the banquet of vampires, werewolves, witches, warlocks, ghouls and Elvis wannabes. Yes, the simple masks that were the costumes of the original door to door tricksters have morphed from the very scary to the trending celebrities, to political leaders and cheerleaders. Some of them could be scary too.
There is a notoriously active senior adult community in Arizona called Sun Lakes where the idea of dressing up and scaring the neighbors is very much alive. Halloween is not forgotten among the elderly. This crowd of rowdies can dig up the dead with the rest of them! There are several bars in the community of mischievous oldies and on Halloween every one of them is jumping! People come dressed or not, in costume! It is their choice, after all if they are old enough to live here, they are old enough to make their own choices. Mostly. There maybe no door to door, but there certainly is bar to bar or at very least, table to table ‘trick or treating’ going on in the village of the ‘damned’, those people can sure cut a rug! From the Celtics to us Relics, Happy Halloween!
Trick or Treat
