all hallows to auld lang syne

It's a very 90's retail Christmas! Selections from the book, 'Christmas Advertising, Marketing & Display' by Martin Pegler (2001)

1. Montebello Town Center mall - Montebello, CA - designed by The Design Centre of Wichita, KS

2, 4, 5 & 10. Bloomingdales - Lexington Ave, NYC - designed by Mike Fisher, Jack Hruska, Harry Medina

3 & 13. Crestwood Plaza mall - St. Louis, MO - designed by The Design Centre of Wichita, KS

6. Sony - Madison Ave, NYC - designed by Christine Belich

7 & 8. ZCMI - Salt Lake City, UT - designed by Mike Stephens

9. Tyson's Corner Center - Tyson's Corner, VA - designed by The Design Centre of Wichita, KS

11. Carson Pirie Scott - Chicago, IL - designed by Rick Schlenther, Ted Georgiou, Susan Kezon

Christmas displays at the South Bay Galleria - Redondo Beach, CA (late 1980s)

Designed by The Becker Group of Baltimore, MD

Trick-or-treating is a derived from the much older practices of guising, souling, and mumming

guising was a Scottish tradition of children wearing “disguises” to protect themselves from evil spirits, and going door-to-door to receive food or money. it dates back to at least the 16th century!

souling was a British/Irish practice of soulers (mainly children & the poor) going door-to-door and receiving soul cakes (’souls’) in exchange for song & prayer. this practices dates from the 15th century.

mumming was a similar British practice, though more commonly performed on Christmas and Easter. Amateur actors (mummers) would visit houses & pubs to perform folk plays in exchange for money. These often involved sword fights, and occasionally sword dances! 

Immigrants brought these practices to North America, where trick-or-treating itself developed in the 1920s. It’s gained popularity in a number of other countries since them, with different countries developing their own variations, but is still most commonplace in the U.S. and Canada.

Guising, souling, and mumming are still practiced today in certain parts of Britain (and elsewhere), though not on the scale that trick-or-treating has reached. Soul cakes look like this:

yes, the costumes are made out of scraps of fabric and rags and even old newspapers! but if you don’t have time to make your own scrapheap, the modern storebought version is fine too: