Just found this interesting tidbit about Halloween in The Canadian Encyclopedia website article, "
Halloween in Canada." You have to scroll down a fair ways, but it basically says that North American Halloween Traditions Are Canadian in Origin. I did not realize that before.
"North America’s first recorded instance of dressing in disguise on Halloween was in Vancouver, British Columbia, in 1898, while the first recorded use of the term trick or treat was in Lethbridge, Alberta, in 1927."
That doesn't seem to jive with other resources.
Halloween in the U.S. wasn't from traditions in Canada; they were European in origin. In large part (if we're not talking about pagan stuff and more All-Hallow's Eve that had been already here for centuries) the practices were from Irish and Scottish and other immigrants just like for Canada.
From the History channel's website: "In the late 1800s, there was a move in America to mold Halloween into a holiday more about community and neighborly get-togethers than about ghosts, pranks and witchcraft." Another resource has "In America, the seeds of the distinctively American festival of Halloween date back to the 1840s."
For example this is a photo from 1890 from Oklahoma (photo credit Transcendental Graphics/Getty):
Another source has "Ever since the late 19th century, Americans have been dressing up to celebrate Halloween". "There were no store-bought costumes in the late 1800s, so people dressed up as classic symbols of the Halloween holiday with looks they made themselves. The things that appealed to people were the things that they loved about Halloween, so you saw a lot of handmade witch costumes and ghost costumes,"
From another resource discussing how Halloween in the U.S. changed over time mentioned this from 1893: "servants and workers would go to their wealthier neighbors to beg for food, relying on their sense of hospitality to share in the spirit of the holiday. Over the decades, that tradition transformed. It migrated to New York City and became more of an occasion for children. Known as Ragamuffin Day, it saw kids dress up as beggars and go door to door, asking for treat, asking their neighbors or pedestrians: “Anything for Halloween?”. In return, they’d usually get a penny, candy, or an apple. According to
Carmen Nigro at the New York Public Library, the practice appears to date back to 1870, and over the years, the costumes drifted from beggars to other characters, such as pirates, devils, princesses, and more. Local neighborhoods featured parades of children dressed in costume, and the
result was a loud, chaotic day on the streets of New York City and elsewhere: Dressed in all sorts of ragged and ill-fitting garments, or gay with fantastic costumes that savor of the circus ring, every child masked, they make grotesque and (to themselves) delightful processions in the streets. They march in groups and wingly, tooting their horns, shouting, and racing, and then go from door to door, begging for gainties to put in their baskets.”
Each country appears to have adopted things over centuries and adding things changing things as immigrants brought their traditions over.
We wouldn't have to eat Kraft Dinner (but we'd still eat Kraft Dinner because we like it) and yes, we've all always wanted a monkey.
