Why do Americans dress their children in costumes and send them to knock on the doors of strangers? Irish immigrants to the U.S. brought with them traditions from their Celtic forebears, who marked the end of autumn harvest by going house to house disguised in costumes, reciting verses or songs in exchange for food. Today in the U.S, children go from house to house calling “trick or treat”—a good-natured taunt that threatens some sort of “trick” if the children are not given a candy “treat.”
(Pamphlet, 2 pgs.)
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