Is Trick-or-Treat trashy?
Kids in cheap, polyester super-hero knock-off outfits, demanding sugar-laden treats from strangers in the streets after dark.
Or is Trick-or-Treat an American prerogative?
The youth of America demanding food from the rich, to remind the bourgeoisie that the caste system relies on the working class for success?
Well, we've decided to find out.
Is Trick-or-Treat Trashy?
The Roots of Halloween & Trick-or-Treat
The Halloween we know today didn't start with undergrad college students dressed as sexy cats trying to get laid... But boy, we've come a long way, baby.
It was originally a belief of the Celtic people (not the basketball team) that they were protecting their spirits from danger during the Samhain Festival. Pronounced (SOW-in) Samhain Festival was the end of the Fall Harvest, where the belief that the veil between the living and the dead (and the faeries) was dangerously thin, and they could grab your soul if they wanted.
People started disguising themselves as animals or creatures or otherwise, and holding uproarious community bonfires to keep the spirits away, as much as 2000+ years ago.
Classy or trashy, who doesn't love a party? And setting stuff ON FIRE ??
Food for Thought?
Ireland's Potato Famine in the mid 1800s caused many Irish and Scottish to immigrate to America, carrying their traditions and folklore with them.
In addition to "guising" ie - wearing costumes door-to-door, other immigrants had the tradition of "souling", which is where the poor "danced and sang outside tenement apartments on All Souls' Eve in exchange for pastries called "soul cakes" or money.'" (Source).
So these new youthful populations in America were like "Hey, I'll dance and sing or whatever, and we'll say a prayer for your Great Grandma to ensure she gets into heaven."
Tell me - what is more entrepreneurial than promising something you can't guarantee to rich people, in exchange for payment?
And sometimes they'd give out BEER! Howyerdoing!
What about the Tricks?
Where do the tricks come in? Well, as this holiday became more secular and less religious, the middle-youths would indeed wreak havoc on neighbors that didn't comply...
They'd do things such as throwing cabbages into chimneys, "soaping" windows, and hitting passerbys with giant bags of flour.
Hilarious!
Young women also "
performed fortune-telling rituals, believing Halloween was an ideal time to divine the identity of their future husbands," (Source), and choir boys "dressed as virgin brides, representing forthcoming marriages that would lead to more births and the replenishment of the Christian population," (Source).
So...
- young ladies were looking for husbands (*orny, much?)
- choir boys were taunting everyone
- beer was involved
If that's not modern Halloween, IDK what is.
Annoyed by the destruction of property, into the 1920s and 1930s, communities and clubs tried to control the chaos by organizing Halloween events and giving away the treats. It largely was a success, as they started playing parlor games such as bobbing apples and mirror-gazing (where people thought they may see their future mate).
And Modern Celebrations ?
The practice of sugar-rationing ended after World War II, and the suburbs were BOOMING with - well, Baby Boomers being born.
These new lil cults-de-sac neighborhoods were popping up left and right, because people were working again, the country largely experiencing an economic boom. Suburbanites were more than happy to hand you a Tootsie Roll or two so you didn't smash their new mailbox.
The Dirtbags today know that the modern middle-class is desperately shrinking, and the current economy is - not so chill?
Call Tuddy an anarchist, but maybe the rich need small reminders that we can still throw cabbages thru their chimneys or steal their Kia automobiles, unless they share in the wealth...**
Does that make me Garbage? Almost certainly.
Am I ashamed of it? Absolutely not.
Tuddy prefers Reece's Pumpkins, FYI.
What are some Halloween TRICKS you pulled as a kid? How much trouble did you get into?
Let us know in the comments!
**Also noting we DO NOT endorse or encourage violence or property destruction - this is all just for entertainment purposes. You can very much go to real jail, even as a minor.
But, if you'd like to celebrate in BLOCK-PARTY fashion, we still have some BACK ON THE BLOCK tour tees and posters on sale! Check below or
here.
As always, love youse. - AYG
