All Hallow’s Eve or Halloween is a world-wide holiday which started in mid-western Europe. It was originally meant to celebrate the harvest of the crops. All Hallow’s Eve got its name from an Old English meaning: all saint eve. It got its name due to the fact that the next day was the Catholic celebration All Saint’s Day, November 1st.

The tradition of dressing up on Halloween started in Scotland in the early twentieth century. Eventually it spread throughout Europe and the whole world. Records show that small children and teenagers started going to houses demanding a treat or else a prank would be in order. That was called Trick-or-Treating or Guising. They would wear costumes to hide their identity when tricking.

Today’s modern version of trick-or-treating involves kids going to houses and saying, “Trick-or-Treat.” Most of the time kids will get candy and won’t play a trick. Many teenagers will trick, though, no matter what. These tricks involve egging houses, throwing toilet paper over houses, and wrapping cars in plastic wrap.

How the holiday turned from a crop and harvest celebration to the spooky, horror-filled attractions we know today is unknown. Many historians can debate about that fact for hours.

The jack-o’-lantern got its name from an old folk tale in which a man named Jack stole a local villages squash and was destined for hell by the Devil. The story goes that Jack trapped the devil with a cross upon a tree. Eventually the Devil got lose and promised to forgive him if he lights a flame of hell in the squash he stole, and to imprint his face on there. The idea of the jack-o’-lantern was to ward off evil spirits by cutting a grotesque face on the pumpkin and lighting it. The tradition started in Ireland and spread through Europe and eventually worldwide.

So whether you celebrate with tricks or treats, pumpkin carving , or even through horror,  just remember Halloween started it all.