The Origin of Trick-or-treat

On October 31, hordes of children armed with Jack-o’-lantern-shaped buckets and pillow cases will take to the streets in search of sugar. Trick-or-treating for candy is equivalent to Halloween, but the tradition had to go through a centuries-long 【小题1】 to arrive at the place it is today. So how did the holiday become an opportunity for kids to get free sweets? You can blame pagans (异教徒), Catholics, and candy companies.

Historians agree that a Celtic autumn festival called Samhain (萨温节) was the origin of modern Halloween. Samhain was a time to celebrate the last harvest of the year and the approach of the winter season. It was also a festival for 【小题2】 the dead. One way Celtics may have appeased the spirits they believed still walked the Earth was by leaving treats on their doorsteps. When Catholics invaded Ireland in the 1st century CE, they rebranded many pagan holidays to 【小题3】 their religion. November 1^st became the “feasts of All Saints and All Souls,” and the day before it was dubbed “All-Hallows’-Eve.” The new holidays looked a lot different from the original Celtic festival, but many traditions 【小题4】 around, including the practice of offering food to the dead. The food of choice for Christians became “soul cakes,” small pastries usually baked with expensive 【小题5】 and spices like currants and saffron.

Instead of leaving them outside for 【小题6】 ghosts, soul cakes were distributed to beggars who went door-to-door 【小题7】 to pray for souls of the deceased in exchange for something to eat. Sometimes they wore costumes to honour the saints—something pagans originally did to avoid being 【小题8】 by evil spirits. The ritual, known as “souling”, is believed to have planted the seeds for modern-day trick-or-treating.

It wasn’t until the 1950s that trick-or-treat gained popularity in the US. Following the Great Depression and World War II, the suburbs were booming, and people were looking for 【小题9】 to have fun and get to know their neighbours. The old 【小题10】 of souling made a comeback and gave kids a chance to dress up in costumes and roam their neighbourhoods. Common trick-or-treat offerings included nuts, coins, and homemade baked goods (“treats” that most kids would turn their noses up at today).

Many trees and shrubs change color in fall. For years, scientists have worked hard to understand the changes that happen to them. They find that three factors 【小题1】 fall's colorful farewell — leaf pigments (色素), length of night, and weather. The timing of the color change is mainly regulated by the increasing length of night. None of the other 【小题2】influences, such as temperature, rainfall, food supply, are as unchanging as the 【小题3】increasing length of night during fall. As days grow shorter, and nights grow longer and cooler, biochemical 【小题4】 in leaves begin to paint the landscape with an explosion of colors. And Nature puts on one of its most splendid 【小题5】 of beauty.

The timing of the color change【小题6】 by species. Some species in southern forests can become vividly colorful in late summer while all other species are still vigorously green. Oaks put on their colors long after other species have already shed their leaves. These differences in timing among species seem to be genetically 【小题7】, for a particular species, whether on a high mountain or in warmer lowlands, will change color at the same time.

However, some species are evergreen. Pines, for example, are green all the year round because they have toughened up. They have developed over the years a needle-like or scale-like foliage (绿叶植物), which is【小题8】 with a heavy wax coating. And the liquid inside their cells contains cold-resistant elements. So the leaves of evergreens can safely withstand (经受住) all but the most 【小题9】winter conditions, such as those in the Arctic.

ASMR. It sounds like an illness or a government department, I know. Bui it is, in fact, one of the few things that helps my brain stop whining (嗡嗡) at night. Or, at the very least, whir more slowly. The abbreviation stands for “autonomous sensory meridian response” (ASMR). I won’t go into the science behind it (mostly because I don’t understand it), but essentially, it’s a pleasurable feeling one gets from certain noises or 【小题1】.

I wouldn’t have thought that listening to recorded common noises would be something I’d find relaxing. I have written before about my love of silence. I would rather grab my coat and bag, fold my laptop and walk across to die other side of a cafe than listen to someone 【小题2】 but repeatedly dieting a pen nearby. And yet, it turns out that I absolutely cannot get enough of listening to playlists of people rustling (沙沙声) paper; sketching with pencils; using typewriters.

It may seem odd, but I like to think that listening to someone mess around with 【小题3】 of wood is just the natural 【小题4】 from 1990s therapists prescribing cassettes of whale-song.

I never thought I would admit to liking role-play, but in the context of ASMR, I’m putting it out there: whenever I 【小题5】 to get to sleep, which is always, I listen to a YouTube video of a woman pretending to cut my hair. There’s the gentle crush of the brush bristles; the snip, snip of the scissors; the soft hiss (嘶嘶声) of spray. None of this compares to a sleeping pill, but in terms of 【小题6】 down, this aural language acts as a kind of tranquillizer (镇静剂). I shouldn’t find it’s relaxing to listen to a(n) 【小题7】 doctor’s appointment, given how much time I spend in actual hospitals, but again, the sudden sharp noise of a latex glove, or the faint sound of an unreal car exam (probably someone 【小题8】 a cloth over a microphone, to be honest), is calming.

I am not the only one who finds all this 【小题9】: millions now consume ASMR videos and recordings. Obviously, this means the practice has been commercialized completely— something I try not to think about, as it 【小题10】 me back into a busy world of commerce and internet celebrity. No need to dwell on all that. But I recommend listening to recorded waves at night if you don’t live by the sea. If you do live by the sea-well, then, please invite me to stay. It would be a pleasure to listen to the real thing.