When is trick and treat night?

NegativeCreep

Iwannahurl wrote: »

Of course, for many people it's "Holloween" apparently...

Oh right yeah, I call it that too. But I think the OP knows what day halloween is on but was wondering what day the kids are going trick or treating considering it falls on a Wednesday this year and parents are in work :P

mathepac

Stench Blossoms wrote: »

... When times were tough I went out dressed in a black bag.

Ahhh - a bag for life.

swine

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Ahh, I don't think so:

"Halloweening: The act of a women eating a butterfinger then blowing a male (boyfriend), then while chocolate and peanutbutter is still slathered ..."

ref: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Halloweening

You know your argument has lost any clout when you start linking to UrbanDictionary.

_Whimsical_

I always did it as a child as did all of the children in my estate and my class in school. It's by no means a new americanisation thing.

I've noticed that in recent years the number of kids coming to our door has dropped from ten to maybe one. I think most parents are probably reluctant to allow their kids do it unaccompanied and children over 8 most likely don't want to go with parents and children under that are only able to walk to next door neighbours or very nearby houses.

I hope parents will be mindful and accompany their kids though. There have been years where I've seen small kids go to doors in houses by themselves where I wouldn't go myself because I know the people living there to be...unusual. It would be nice to think too that in a neighbourhood everyone will watch out for small kids if the parents don't have the sense to so on nights like this.

inisboffin

I think the basic tradition is not being disputed - it has been going on for an age. It is what it called that has gradually changed, along with the specifics of what you do to get a treat (ie threaten the householder with a trick vs offer a performance or a verse).
We seem to get less 'tricks' in Galway, but I know one pal in Dublin whose estate has plenty of 'egged and toiletpapered' houses when treats werent forthcoming.

Near us a couple of adults wait at the gates for the gang of kids, but most tend to know who lives where.

vicwatson

In town for few days anything going on tonight for children apart from goin around the houses in Galway City (we'll do that too) ?

Happy Halloween y'all !

fishy fishy

trick or treat is an absolute American thing. It was never heard of in Ireland until maybe the early 80's when it became cool to ape whatever the Americans were doing. Until then we stuck to our dressing up with coal on faces, black bags as costumes, pagan ghosts and bonfires. anyone who think "trick or treat" has always been around are just too young to realize any different. The world WAS here before you were born you know. :D

Fuinseog

there was a time they would knock on your door two weeks early but no one has come near me yet.

Stench Blossoms

fishy fishy wrote: »

trick or treat is an absolute American thing. It was never heard of in Ireland until maybe the early 80's when it became cool to ape whatever the Americans were doing. Until then we stuck to our dressing up with coal on faces, black bags as costumes, pagan ghosts and bonfires. anyone who think "trick or treat" has always been around are just too young to realize any different. The world WAS here before you were born you know. :D

Well since I was born in the 80's it's always been around for my lifetime. If I wasn't busy tonight I'd throw on the black bag and go trick or treating myself.

antoobrien

inisboffin wrote: »

ublin whose estate has plenty of 'egged and toiletpapered' houses when treats werent forthcoming.

That reminds me, I have to go to the local fruit wholesaler to get some tomatoes & apples to "give" back to these brats.

Miss Lockhart

My parents are in their late 60s and they used the term "Trick or Treat".

fishy fishy

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

My parents are in their late 60s and they used the term "Trick or Treat".

well since "trick or treat" was only "invented" in N. America in the 1950's I can only assume that your parents must have invented it, or they are American, or picked it up from Americans.

Trick or treat is a very new thing compared to Halloween. Halloween and going out "mumming" or singing door to door is a celtic pagan tradition which goes back as far as at least the 19 century.

Miss Lockhart

fishy fishy wrote: »

well since "trick or treat" was only "invented" in N. America in the 1950's I can only assume that your parents must have invented it, or they are American, or picked it up from Americans.

Trick or treat is a very new thing compared to Halloween. Halloween and going out "mumming" or singing door to door is a celtic pagan tradition which goes back as far as at least the 19 century.

Yes, I know the tradition is very old in Ireland. I know nothing of the origins of the phrase "trick or treat". I can only share my experiences - both my parents say they used the phrase in Ireland in the 50s. I sincerely doubt they invented it - they didn't know each other then and are not from the same area. Neither are American, nor do they have any American relatives.

fishy fishy

In North America, trick or treat has been a customary Halloween tradition since at least the early 1950s.

The tradition of going from door to door receiving food already existed in Great Britain and Ireland in the form of "souling", where children and poor people would sing and say prayers for the dead in return for cakes

While going from door to door in disguise has remained popular among Scots and Irish, the North American custom of saying "trick or treat" has recently become common.

above from wikipedia.

I think if your parents were using it in the 50's in ireland, people would have had no clue what they were on about.

Miss Lockhart

fishy fishy wrote: »

In North America, trick or treat has been a customary Halloween tradition since at least the early 1950s.

The tradition of going from door to door receiving food already existed in Great Britain and Ireland in the form of "souling", where children and poor people would sing and say prayers for the dead in return for cakes

While going from door to door in disguise has remained popular among Scots and Irish, the North American custom of saying "trick or treat" has recently become common.

above from wikipedia.

I think if your parents were using it in the 50's in ireland, people would have had no clue what they were on about.

Perhaps not, but that doesn't change the fact that that is what they remember doing.

Earlier you said that the phrase was only invented in the 50s. Your own link says there are references to it from the 20s and 30s. You are speaking like you are an authority on the subject but your facts don't stack up.

Like I said, I can only share my own experiences and those of my family. It might not suit your viewpoint but I can't help that.

biko

So, tonight's the night anyway. I've stocked up on sweets now (real sweets).
Hopefully no-one will call and it's mine!

Irishgoatman

I'm in my late 60's and I grew up in England. I have no recollection of doing anything for/on Halloween.
The only time we went door to door was the week before Christmas when we went carol singing. And we always did well for money that week.

antoobrien

Irishgoatman wrote: »

I'm in my late 60's and I grew up in England. I have no recollection of doing anything for/on Halloween.
The only time we went door to door was the week before Christmas when we went carol singing. And we always did well for money that week.

Don't they celebrate a gang of catholics nearly making a mess of parliment a few days after holloween?

For those without clue

or a or a sense of humour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes

Fuinseog

antoobrien wrote: »

Don't they celebrate a gang of catholics nearly making a mess of parliment a few days after holloween?

For those without clue

or a or a sense of humour http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Fawkes

and the phrase is 'a penny for the guy'. I do not think the Brits celebrate even the Americanised halloween.

fishy fishy

Miss Lockhart wrote: »

Perhaps not, but that doesn't change the fact that that is what they remember doing.

Earlier you said that the phrase was only invented in the 50s. Your own link says there are references to it from the 20s and 30s. You are speaking like you are an authority on the subject but your facts don't stack up.

Like I said, I can only share my own experiences and those of my family. It might not suit your viewpoint but I can't help that.

i just think its a little mad that they were saying it in Ireland when it was unknown, and barely known in the USA at the time. :D Its a completely recent thing to Ireland. Go back to the 70's there was no such thing as trick or treat in Ireland - barely had face masks - just had to disguise yourself in an old coat and coal - monkey nuts, fruit and bonfires. We didn't know what trick or treat was. We didn't know what halloween candy was either - we got coppers. Would you ask your parents where they got trick or treat from - I really would be interested to know, since I have never heard of trick or treating in Ireland in the 1950's. Halloween wasn't a commercial entity in the 1950's - that didn't happen until recently. Trick or Treat, the masks, the outfits, costumes and halloween candy are all recent things.

fishy fishy

Irishgoatman wrote: »

I'm in my late 60's and I grew up in England. I have no recollection of doing anything for/on Halloween.
The only time we went door to door was the week before Christmas when we went carol singing. And we always did well for money that week.

did ye not have bonfire night.

antoobrien

fishy fishy wrote: »

did ye not have bonfire night.

I've a neighbour whose family is from Nottingham - they celebrate the 5th.

Irishgoatman

Thank you, yes we had and they still have Bonfire Night.

But that wasn't door to door. We just made up an effigy of Guy Fawkes and stood on a street corner with it. Usually just a few days before the 5th so that obviously would have included the 31st Oct. but I have no recollection of knowing anything about Halloween, which is the point I tried to make. Never collected a great deal as far as I remember.

The strange thing about that was, if you read the history books, that Guy Fawkes was a very minor player in the attempt to blow up Parliament. Yet he's the one remembered!.

mathepac

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

I always did it as a child as did all of the children in my estate and my class in school. It's by no means a new americanisation thing. ...

Yes it's a new americanisation thing from he telly box. Americans started doing "trick or treat" in the 60's.

_Whimsical_ wrote: »

... I think most parents are probably reluctant to allow their kids do it unaccompanied and children over 8 most likely don't want to go with parents and children under that are only able to walk to next door neighbours or very nearby houses. ...

Fair play to the responsible parents though. They don't want their children suffering the ignominy of being regarded as americanised "trick or treat" clones educated by the idiot-box in the corner.

mathepac

antoobrien wrote: »

I've a neighbour whose family is from Nottingham - they celebrate the 5th.

Nov 5th is Guy Fawke's night. A Catholic Yorkshireman who tried to blow up James I and the House of Lords and restore a Catholic (Spaniard ?) to the throne of England, he was a hero much maligned by Brits since.

Guy, pronounced ghee usually, but not in Britland apparently, confusing it with the Hebrew goy / goyim meaning Nation or Nations.

bullpost

We used to hollow out turnips and use them like the yanks use pumpkins. This was back in the '70s.

antoobrien

mathepac wrote: »

Nov 5th is Guy Fawke's night. A Catholic Yorkshireman who tried to blow up James I and the House of Lords and restore a Catholic (Spaniard ?) to the throne of England, he was a hero much maligned by Brits since.

see #49

If any kids call and say "Trick or Treat" reply with "Trick please"..... queue looks of total confusion

vicwatson

vicwatson wrote: »

In town for few days anything going on tonight for children apart from goin around the houses in Galway City (we'll do that too) ?

Happy Halloween y'all !

Ill take that as a NO !! lol

thesandeman

If you have transport there is a thing going on in Bridgets Garden from now till 9. Face Painting, Treasure Hunt etc. Think its 18euro for family of four.
If you Google it all the details are there.