To many, Halloween is a fun time to hang out with friends while being able to grab a few snacks. Some see it as a challenge, to see who could collect the most amount of candy within the night. And there are others, who take fun in using the night to prank and trick their friends. However, this yearly holiday was much different in the past. It never was always like the way it is today. And now in 2025, a new form of collecting candy, known as Trunk-or-Treating, is taking the lead as a modernized form of Trick-or-Treating.
Halloween was never supposed to be the main attraction, in fact it was supposed to be a buildup to the real holiday. In the 8th century, the Catholic Church established All Saints’ Day on November 1st to honor saints and martyrs. However, Halloween takes place the evening before All Saints’ Day, at the time known as All Hallows’ Eve. Long before our modernized Halloween, the ancient Celts celebrated Samhain, a festival that marked the end of the harvest season and the start of winter. They believed that on the night of October 31st, the boundary between the living and the dead blurred, allowing spirits to return to Earth. If that sounds familiar, that you’d be right as that’s the premise around the Spanish holiday, the Day of the Dead.
As Christianity spread throughout Europe, many of these traditions blended with Christianity and their beliefs. People started to offer food to wandering souls and wore costumes to ward off any spirits, both of which can be seen in the Trick-or-Treating culture. By the time the holiday reached America through Irish and Scottish immigrants in the 1800s, it had already become a community-centered event.
As the decades passed, Halloween transformed from a night centered around superstitions into a fun festivity enjoyed by children and adults alike. The 20th century introduced Trick-or-Treating, where children dressed up in costumes and went door to door collecting candy. Today, a more modernized approach to Trick-or-Treating can now be seen, coined “Trunk-or-Treating.” Instead of going door to door collecting candy, young children can gather treats from decorated car trunks in a monitored parking lot, which is seen as a much safer approach to the event. While Halloween has evolved through the years, the joy of the festival remains the same. Halloween continues to be a night where history, culture, and fun can all shine together underneath the same moon.
