Most people know what to do when they open their front doors on Oct. 31st and find themselves confronted by a vampire, a mummy and a werewolf: they give them some candy.
According to CU-Boulder Professor Michael Preston, the history of trick-or-treating is an interesting and varied one. And today, "There's much more adult humor. There is an awful lot of cross-dressing," said Preston, as opposed to past generations, when there was not as much emphasis on disguise. For example:
* In 9th century Europe, Christians walked from door-to-door asking for biscuits and offering to pray for the donor聮s dead relatives, creating the custom of trick-or-treating.
* Trick-or-treating in America started in the 1930s as an attempt to deter more harmful types of Halloween mischief.
* Halloween is not an officially recognized holiday, but the level of family involvement it requires brings the family closer together.
* Costume parties surpassed trick-or-treating in popularity in the 1980s, with costumes showing more adult humor and cross-dressing, and having a greater emphasis on disguise.
* A nationwide scare about 20 years ago involving cases of poisoned Halloween candy handed out to children almost ended the tradition of trick-or-treating.
Despite these developments, Preston sees a resurgence in trick-or-treating because of today聮s safer environments. The tradition looks like it聮s here to stay. "Like most customs, it聮s very hard to stomp it out unless you have an organized, systematic approach," said Preston.
Until such an approach is taken, children will continue to don Frankenstein masks and fake fangs to trick-or-treat their way to a bagful of candy.