Trick-or-treat

An activity for children on Halloween, in which they are dressed up in costumes, often of supposedly malevolent supernatural beings such as ghosts, demons, and tax collectors, and proceed from house to house, asking for sweets with the phrase "trick-or-treat?" with the implied threat that if their demands for confectionary are not met they will perform some "trickery".

The activity is popular in the United States, and occurs (though with considerably less enthusiasm) in Australia (and where else?)

It was once believed that on Halloween, the spritual world was at its strongest point in the year. It was commonly believed that supernatural beings, usually malevolent, walked free on Earth for this night. People would wear masks when they went outside, in an attempt to disguise themselves as spirits so they could travel unharmed. As the mythology faded, the practice became more tradition and the requisite spirit disguise gradually gave way to hobos, clowns, barbies and assorted Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

Trick-or-treating, and Halloween in general experiences lulls and peaks in popularity. Its climax was probably in the 1940's with huge parades of disguised "spirits" of all ages, and trick-or-treating that lasted for four or more days in some places. In recent years, trick-or-treating has diminished as a result of bad publicity. One popular urban legend is the story of razor blades or needles being pushed into apples before being handed out to children. There have been scares relating to LSD-laced gum or temporary tattoos, and many stories about poisoned candy. Many dentist's offices, either seeking publicity or out of genuine concern, offer free x-rays of halloween candy to check for foreign objects. While many of these stories have some basis in fact, it is often unrelated to trick-or-treating, happened once several decades ago, or sometimes is just completely ficticious. (I'm looking for more documentation on this, but I'd appreciate help)

Some cities, citing public safety, haved banned trick-or-treating or even halloween completely. Reasons given often have to do with a supposed rise in kinapping attempts during halloween, or because of a glut of "tricks" or vandalism. Occasionally a city will make a public proclamation that they as a community oppose trick-or-treating for health or religious reasons. Few cities have banned it for more than a few years without it being at least unofficially reinstated.

For many children, trick-or-treating makes halloween the most beloved of holidays, even more than Christmas. Regardless of the financial state of the parents, the child can be assured of plenty of sweets, limited only by the distance they can walk.