HALLOWEEN CANDY

How candy took the lead in satisfying our spookiest cravings.

When you think about Halloween today, what’s the first thing that comes to mind? Is it dressing up in costumes and going out to parties? Is it cozily watching scary movies with friends? Or do you not even bother with the holiday at all? As we grow older, our ideas of how to celebrate Halloween become uniquely our own, with everyone celebrating it differently. But one tradition that has consistently stood the test of time for Americans is our unapologetic desire to devour sweets when spooky season comes around. An epidemic that has been around for centuries.

With Halloween becoming the top U.S. holiday for chocolate sales starting in 2009 and Americans spending billions of dollars on candy annually by the 2020s, it’s hard not to associate our sweet desires with our spooky festivities. But how did candy become synonymous with a holiday that began as a celebration of the occult? And before America’s candy boom in the early 20th century, how did parents control rowdy, sweet-seeking children?

To understand the marriage of candy and Halloween, we must begin with the creation of the holiday itself.

The Origin of Halloween

Halloween’s origins actually date back more than 2,000 years to the Celtic New Year’s Day known as Samhain. “Samhain,” meaning “summer’s end,” was a time marking the end of the harvest season, the Celtic New Year, and the beginning of winter, which fell on November 1st. To mark this seasonal tradition, the Celtic people would celebrate with communal feasts and bonfires, hoping to please the spirits of those who had died years prior. By the 7th century, Samhain was transformed by Christian leaders into “All Saints’ Day” or “All Hallows’ Day.” On All Hallows’ Eve—October 31st—communities would come together, wear costumes, throw parades, and enjoy lots and lots of food.

Fast forward a few hundred years to 16th-century England, and it became customary for lower-class families to go begging on All Souls’ Day, November 2nd. Eventually, it was the children who took over this custom, but instead of receiving money, it became popular to pass out “soul cakes”—mini, shortbread-like cakes topped with crosses, given in exchange for prayers. A precursor to trick-or-treating.

But how did these pagan traditions make their way to America, and eventually into Halloween? Through migration, of course. When European, specifically Irish, immigrants came to America in the 18th and 19th centuries, they brought all their customs, including All Hallows’ Day, which now existed as a unique blend of their old folk traditions, occult practices, and agricultural harvest celebrations, now known as Halloween.

As more immigrants made their way to America, more traditions began to form in the Eastern U.S. and Canada. Remember how children received soul cakes on All Souls’ Day, which became an early form of trick-or-treating? Another similar custom made its way to America in the form of a Christmas celebration called “belsnickling.” Belsnickling involved groups of costumed participants going house to house, performing small tricks in exchange for food and drink. Sound familiar?

So now that we know how Halloween came to be, when does candy come into the mix?

The short answer: pranks and bribes. The long answer: during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, children would play paranormal “tricks” on unsuspecting homeowners, who would then offer them treats as a way to protect their homes from pranksters threatening to wreak chaos on their properties. Children literally gave adults the option: tricks or treats. Researchers have even cited a 1927 newspaper from Alberta, Canada, that reported on pranksters demanding “tricks or treats” at neighboring houses. This began the tradition of homeowners giving out homemade baked goods, fruits, nuts, toys, and even money to calm down suspicious pranksters.

But What About The Candy?

Well, that began back in the late 1800s with one of the most classic candies still enjoyed today: candy corn. Invented by Philadelphian candy maker George Renninger in the 1880s, candy corn is considered one of the oldest Halloween candies. Designed to look like chick feed—an homage to American farmers—candy corn quickly became a Halloween staple, being mass-produced by the turn of the century. During this same time, the Hershey factory was revolutionizing the way Americans consumed chocolate with the famous Hershey’s milk chocolate bar. At the time, chocolate was seen as a luxury for many working Americans. However, when Hershey’s allowed chocolate to be mass-produced at cheaper prices, it completely changed the game for candy-makers and candy consumers.

As sugar became more affordable during the 1920s and 30s, some of our most iconic candies were rolling out onto the market and onto our tongues. After the Hershey’s milk chocolate bar debuted in 1900, Hershey’s introduced Kisses in 1907. By 1923, Milky Way had been invented; in 1928, we got Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (created by a former Hershey’s employee); and in 1935, Kit Kats arrived on the scene.

But how quickly did Americans gobble up this new candy craze? Surprisingly, not very quickly. During this time, trick-or-treating still involved homemade goodies, fruit, and money. And as the Great Depression and World War II came around, access to sugar became limited, causing candy distribution to come to a standstill.

That was until the 1950s.

Picture it: America is out of the recession, they have just won a world war, couples are having kids like never before, and there’s rapid development of suburban neighborhoods. It was now easier than ever for kids to trick-or-treat, and the candy industry took notice. As Halloween’s popularity began to rise, parents found it much easier to hand out pre-wrapped candies than to spend hours in the kitchen making batches of cakes and cookies. And by the 1970s, with widespread panic on the rise, parents were more willing than ever to give out mass-produced candy, made by companies that guaranteed their products were tamper-proof and safe for children to consume. The rest is sweet, sweet history.

Over 60 years later, candy still reigns supreme as the top Halloween tradition (and money-maker) in the U.S. By 2009, Halloween had become the top holiday for chocolate sales, and by 2021, it was reported that Americans spent over $3 billion on candy specifically for that special spooky day that comes once a year to be enjoyed by sweet-heads young and old alike. Now isn’t that sweet?

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