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Parent Busters
Trick or Treat Traditions: Intriguing Tales of Halloween Fun Facts (Busting Back Episode)
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Ever wondered about the spooky origins of Halloween and how it evolved into the holiday we know today?
In this BUSTING BACK EPISODE, embark on a chilling journey as Jackie and Ella unravel the suspenseful history and traditions of this spectral celebration and tons of trick or treating fun facts / Halloween fun facts for kids!
The journey begins with the start of Halloween, rooted in Celtic festivals marking the end of summer and onset of death-associated cold seasons, and how it was later influenced by the Romans and their own festive customs.
From there, we hop across the Atlantic, unmasking how this eerie European tradition blended with Native American customs to morph into a uniquely American celebration.
With the influx of Irish immigrants in the 19th century, Halloween began to weave its web all over the nation. The treasured custom of trick-or-treating didn't miss our radar either.
Brace yourself as we navigate through its history, tracing back to early Celtic and Roman Catholic festivals and the 9th-century All Souls Day.
Finally, we cast light on the sweet side of Halloween - candy history!
Learn about the creation of the quintessential candy corn by the Golitz family and the fascinating tale of the 1923 Chicken Dinner Candy Bar.
But the Halloween magic doesn't end in America.
We'll jet around the world, unearthing Halloween traditions in different cultures, from the Hungry Ghost Festival in Hong Kong to Dia das Bruchas in Brazil.
So, grab your broomstick and join us for a wickedly enlightening adventure into Halloween's past.
Grab your free Buster Deduction sheet for kids!
Check out how your can support our LISTEN FOR CAUSE to help us give back to others!
*All resources and references used in researching this podcast episode are found on the corresponding episode post on ParentBusters.com.
The History and Traditions of Halloween
Speaker 1Hey everyone, it's Jackie and Ella from the Parent Busters Podcast, hi, and I just wanted to remind you quickly that we do listen for cause, which is where we give back part of what you give to support this podcast every single month to help organizations in need. And you can scroll down and click on the support the link podcast link at the bottom of the notes or at the top of the screen.
Speaker 2Yeah, so please go check it out, hi. Hey, I'm Ella and I'm here with my mom, jackie, and this is Parent Busters and you want to know what time it is.
Speaker 1Time to do the podcast.
Speaker 2It's officially spooky time.
Speaker 1Was that a good spooky laugh? I don't think I have a spooky laugh.
Speaker 2It's officially spooky time and you know what that means. Not that we are going to be talking about the history of Halloween and things surrounding it, yeah.
Speaker 1This is really fun.
Speaker 2I'm excited, we haven't done anything and you're like this is the best.
Speaker 1No, because I had a lot of fun researching for this episode.
Speaker 2Same.
Speaker 1I learned so much, and I hope that you will too. There are so many things I didn't know.
Speaker 2Yeah. So do we talk about our two truths and a lie.
Speaker 1Yeah, let's get to our two truths and a lie. Okay, please hold for a very important message. Number one the first trick or treating was called mumbing. Number two Okay, people historically wore costumes to trick ghosts. And number three the top selling Halloween candy in the United States is Skittles.
Speaker 2How, do you like Skittles?
Speaker 1I love Skittles.
Speaker 2You're weird.
Speaker 1Well, but that's irrelevant and unrelated to Skittles.
Speaker 2It's always relevant to mother.
Speaker 1Hey, why don't you start us out with some history of Halloween as a holiday?
Speaker 2Of course. Well, what I found out overall when I was researching? That Halloween is really a melting pot of traditions and celebrations, which I knew already. There were some, but it's way more than I thought. So let's start, let's get to it. Baby, halloween started as the Celtic festival saw when, on October 31st, held by the Celts who lived around 2000 years ago in Europe, saw when marked the end of summer, in the beginning of cold seasons usually associated with death, it was like right to like around the harvest. Yeah, exactly, it was ending the harvest in the summer going into a very dormant period.
Speaker 1I think we talked a little bit about this on our Jack-O-Lantern episode, which of you haven't listened to. Please go check out. Listen to it. There are lots of really cool things on that. It also relates to this very well, yes. So if you're looking for like a whole Halloween unit study or like a family listening time on Halloween, we got you covered.
Speaker 2Most of our October podcasts are yeah, but saw when was also believed to be the day that the dead would return to earth Spooky.
Speaker 1It's so interesting to me that I was writing something, so it's kind of distracting.
Speaker 2Your brain was loading, it was.
Speaker 1Spooling.
Speaker 2With blue screen. It's so interesting to me that so many cultures have something like that, yeah, these where they can relate back to their dead.
Speaker 1Yeah, like Dia de los Muertos.
Speaker 2Yes, day of the Dead.
Speaker 1Yeah, so that's interesting. Bring out your dead. Hey, what kind of music do mummies listen to?
Speaker 2Rap, yes, rap, rap music. I love when I can follow your plans.
Speaker 1I do too.
Speaker 2Haha.
Speaker 1Anyway, back to the history of Halloween. During saw a regularly scheduled program. Back to the regularly scheduled program. It's so weird that we would go off on a tangent no way, no way.
Speaker 2During saw when people would light bonfires and wear costumes for the reason that they don't want ghosts to recognize them. They want them to think there are other ghosts, so nothing happens to them. So they wore costumes.
Speaker 1So they're wearing ghost costumes to trick ghosts.
Speaker 2Yes, oh, they're spies, wow Spies. I kicked my table, apologies, huh, to keep ghosts out of their homes.
Speaker 1It's professional over here.
Speaker 2I know we're the most professional, oh my To keep ghosts out of their homes. People would also leave food outside of their houses to make them happy and keep them occupied.
Speaker 1That's kind of the same thing that they do during Day of the Dead.
Speaker 2Exactly, it's just like an offering to their loved ones. It's not a fear-based thing. This is respect. You can come, you can have food. You can be with your family, right yeah, and during this it's like crying in the corner. So around 43 AD, most Celtic areas were taken over by the Romans and saw when was combined with a few Roman holidays In Borelia, a day where Romans remembered their dead. There it is again, exactly, it's so strange. And Pomona, a day honoring the Roman goddess of trees and fruit, pomona.
Speaker 1Yeah, I think we talked about that in our, did we I?
Speaker 2think so and, interestingly enough, pomona could be one of the reasons that people bought for apples on Halloween, because she's associated with fruit. What Are you crazy? Oh.
Speaker 1I never would have thought of that. No, I never put that together either.
Speaker 2And it came up when I was like hold up Wait a minute. Yeah, like, why do we buy it for apples? Also, when I heard that I just had the image of the trolley brown Halloween bobbing for apples, and then the ooh, dog germs, dog germs, disinfectant.
Speaker 1I love that part. It's the best part. Did you know that? When I was a kid?
Speaker 2Welcome back to Jack's traumatizing childhood.
Speaker 1Today we really did bob for apples, that is a great idea. We put our Imagine. This doesn't have anything to do with the history of Halloween, but you know it's important. It is important.
Speaker 2We need a. It's been a tiny bit since we've had a history. At least two episodes, yeah, at least two episodes, you would put water in a big.
Speaker 1So imagine thosewhat are those big metal containers called Anyway A bucket, a trough. Okay, let's just go with a trough.
Speaker 2So now it's like the, not a bucket, a trough.
Speaker 1It's like the big round ones that are metal. Anyway, that handles the buckets. I can't think of anything. They're describing a large bucket. Yeah, it's not a bucket, sure, so we would fill that with water. I mean, it's Halloween, so it was chilly here in the Midwest. Yeah, it was hot. You would put real apples in there and then kids would take turn plunging their faces into it and trying to grab apples with their mouth.
Speaker 2now think about this In the post pandemic world, you're biting at several apples after you have your open mouth into water that other people are gonna stick their faces in After you know, 15 other kids have been biting at the same, or sticking their hands in it. Yeah, the hands are the least of the worry. I mean, while you're eating candy and then stick your hands in your mouth.
Speaker 1It's Listen the saliva coming out of the kids mouths, and then everyone biting after the same apple. Welcome to the seventies, anyway.
Speaker 2You know, I was gonna say I didn't.
Speaker 1I was like, oh, that's not traumatizing, nevermind, nevermind, that's traumatizing for me, it's so weird to think of now, like what we know now and like we try to keep the germs to minimum but and they're like yeah, stick your head in this bucket full of germs. Everyone spit into the bucket and then we'll bob for apples in it.
Evolution of Halloween and Trick-or-Treating
Speaker 2It's basically the same thing. I don't, I don't like, I don't like, no, no, no, okay, okay, so fast, fast forward quite a bit to around one thousand eighty, and the Roman Catholic Church made November 2nd, all souls day, a day to honor the dead, and we might talk about that. We're gonna talk about that more later when we talk about trick-or-treating, uh huh. So let's skip ahead a bit. Once Halloween made its way to America, it started to be less common in Colonial New England than it was in more southern colonies. Hmm, interestingly enough, but it was mostly because of religious beliefs. Oh right, and differences right, between regions, uh huh. The European Halloween traditions started to mesh with Native American traditions and a new type of Halloween came. They would hold public celebrations, sing, dance, tell coast stories and cause general mischief, yes, and chaos.
Speaker 1Yes, the trick, the big trick, part of trick-or-treating which has actually gone by the wayside, and I'm going to talk about that in a little while.
Speaker 2Yeah, while fall festivities were very common by the 19th century, halloween still wasn't really celebrated all over the country. By the mid to late 19th century, a surge of immigrants came to the US, a large population of them being Irish. From the potato famine, exactly, and you might see why that's more relevant if you listen to our pumpkin episode. Yes, and these new people helped to spread and grow the tradition of Halloween.
Speaker 1Wow, so interesting. Yeah, so do you want to talk about the history of trick-or-treating in relation to the history of Halloween? Yeah, because in the United States, like I know, it's different in different countries, and we're actually going to talk about Halloween around the world, so stick around toward the end.
Speaker 2Stick around anyway, yeah stick around anyway.
Speaker 1But in the United States and many other countries, people celebrate the Halloween holiday by dressing up, yep, and they go to parties or have parties, or they go around door to door. Well, they also carve pumpkins and jack and jack-o-lanterns.
Speaker 2Jack-o-lanterns trick-or-treat yeah, they go door to door. Caustional mischief Wait.
Speaker 1Yeah, may not as much. Uh, trick-or-treating is a Halloween activity. It's a big thing. It's common for us in the United States. If you're listening to this from another country, oh hey, and hey, thanks for checking us out, yeah. Um, it's huge in the United States.
Speaker 2When you think of Halloween, you think at least I think of costumes and then trick-or-treating, but that's because I like making costumes.
Speaker 1Yes, and people go door to door dressed in however they want to be dressed. Yeah, some people make their costumes, some people buy them. Some are extravagant, some are very, you know, just simple, but still super cool.
Speaker 2Sorry, they go to what are you planning on doing being anything for Halloween? This?
Speaker 1year. I just thought I would go as my normal witch self, which seems to transgress all holidays. That doesn't need anything.
Speaker 2I feel like we need to get you a little witch hat, and that's it I think I want like one of those cute witch headbands, witch hat headbands. Can we do that? Yeah, I will be.
Speaker 1So I, yes, yeah, I think I'm going to do that. Yes, Because we do hand out candy here. Yeah, anyway, trick-or-treating is like a popular neighborhood thing. To do it less so now. Like we're getting less and less trick-or-treaters as the years go by. Yeah, I think more people are having parties at their house or going-.
Speaker 2Or going to like trick-or-treat walkthroughs.
Speaker 1Yeah, trick-or-treat, walkthroughs, trunk-or-treat, trunk-or-treat there we go.
Speaker 2Churches have trunk-or-treats when people come with their cars. Yes, Open up the backs and it's not as shady as it seems. Hey kids come to my car to get candy. They decorate them.
Speaker 1What can go wrong from that?
Speaker 2Nothing. They decorate them and give out candy. Nothing suspicious about it.
Speaker 1Like a non-scary, non-evil Halloween with the churches that do trick-or-treat, trunk or treat Anyway.
Speaker 2Super popular with younger kids.
Speaker 1Yeah, but the origin of that trick-or-treating. So, anyway, the whole. Let me say this first Trick-or-treating means so kids come to the door, they knock on the door, you open the door and they say Trick-or-treat, trick-or-treat, which is? I was thinking about this while doing research for this episode. It's a weird thing to say, because no one tricks anymore. No, there was actually a history of the tricking and we're going to talk about that. But why don't we just say happy Halloween, give me candy.
Speaker 2Give me stuff, give me candy.
Speaker 1Yeah, give me the candy. But the whole thing was, you used to be say, I want a trick and they had to do some prank on you. Anyway, no one does that.
Speaker 2No, thankfully, because I wouldn't want a bunch of kids, not in our neighborhood at least.
The Evolution of Trick-or-Treating
Speaker 1I wouldn't want a bunch of kids tricking or pranking throughout Halloween at my house. Anyway, the origin of the whole trick-or-treating thing is actually a little cloudy, so like where the phrase trick-or-treating? I'm going to talk about later, but where it came from. But the actual act, like Ella said, kind of came from ancient Celtic festivals. It also came from early Roman Catholic holidays.
Speaker 2Which you mentioned, all souls day and also medieval practices.
Speaker 1So it's like Ella said at the beginning it's kind of like a melting pot of how things came together and made Halloween and trick-or-treating like we know today.
Speaker 2Am I the first time I've ever used melting pot?
Speaker 1So they think that the earliest trick-or-treating was part of the Celtic celebration saw when that Ella talked about earlier, dating back to the Middle Ages, where they would dress as ghosts, like you said, demons, creatures, and they would perform tricks in exchange for food and drinks, and they called this mumbing. Say what, mumbing, mumbing. And they think that this is actually one of the first documented things of trick-or-treating Wow, wow. So Ella went on to say, by the 9th century, the churches designated because they wanted to make it more less evil.
Speaker 2Yeah, they were trying creating All Souls Day. A lot of people believe they were trying to like push saw, win under the rug. Like this didn't happen Right, like it's very similar in how they celebrated that it closely resembles that Celtic commemoration they lit bonfires.
Speaker 1They dressed up, they had parties, but they made it a couple of days later and they called it All Souls Day, and one of the things that came out of it, another thing that added on to the layer of how we got to trick-or-treating like it is today the trick-or-treating iceberg. The trick-or-treating iceberg is that during All Souls Day, the poorer people would visit the houses of the wealthier families and they, the wealthy families, gave out these pastries. They were called Soul cakes, soul cakes, and they got them in exchange for a promise that they would pray for the homeowner, the people, the families giving out the soul cakes, that they would pray for the relatives that had passed away.
Speaker 2And this act was called Soling Going a-soling, huh Soling.
Speaker 1So we have mummy so far, mumming so far, which was dressing up and then performing tricks in exchange for food and drink.
Speaker 2You have going a-soling. Now it's-soling, which is promising to pray for someone's family and return for pastries and actually kids during this era of going a-soling, kids started to do this and they would come back with food, money and alcohol. Say what Cause that's normal. You know what the kids were called Children, adolescents, solers. That is such a that sounds like a superhero group.
Speaker 1The other so then so we have mumming, we have-soling, and then in Scotland and Ireland the young people took place in a tradition called guising, and guising is dressing up in a costume. Are you seeing a pattern?
Speaker 2here there's a yeah, repeated, it's like the repeating of like every tradition has their respecting dead people Right.
Speaker 1So they in Scotland and Ireland, with guising, they dressed up in costumes and they accepted offerings from different households. Seems familiar, that story seems familiar, I wonder where Rather than praying, saying they would pray for the dead in Scotland and Ireland, during guising, they would sing a song, tell a joke, oh, recite a prop poem, wow, or Perform something that was considered a trick.
Speaker 2This is like the theater kid version of it.
Speaker 1This is my you, this is yours, you're the guys in kid and they would perform. They would have to perform some trick before they would get their treat and In Scotland and Ireland those streets were fruit, nuts and coins oh, not alcohol.
Speaker 1Boring so are you crazy? How did it get to, for example, north America, the United States? It was believed Ella Kind of touched on this that people immigrating to the new world Brought some form of their trick or treating, whether it was mumming or souling or guising. So people started doing it here, yeah, and then by the 1920s so jumping out, a lot kids in the United States were doing it, but the trick part of trick or treating, so the treat part really took a backseat.
Speaker 1Oh, yeah and the trick part really became like a huge thing and vandalism. It was had something in my throat, honestly. The trick or treating then was super violent. Yeah, like people. Kids vandalized things. They attacked people. What's going on here?
Speaker 1According to the Smithsonian, in the 18th and 19th centuries, kids would do things like string ropes across the sidewalks to trip people in the dark. They Tied the outside door knobs of opposing so apartments across the hall from each other. They would tie their door knobs together so people couldn't get out of their apartments. They cut down shrubbery. They tipped over like alcohol barrels or Things, food that was in barrels. They would Soaping windows was a huge thing, so huge. Yeah, so you would take it. Should I say you would take a bar? So don't try this, don't try this at home. You would take a bar of soap and like draw on the window and it would Kind of like black out the window but you know, leaves this film. Or they would write oh, yeah on the window. They would do things like In these are documented cases Kids filled the streets of Catalina Island with boats during their trick part of trick or trading.
Speaker 2Okay, that's, that's okay. Not great, never do this. That is epic in 1887 pranksters.
Speaker 1It doesn't give me the state, the city, but they coded chapel seats with molasses. So they went into the churches and put molasses all over the oh. That's in 1888. There's documented case where they exploded pipe bombs, oh my goodness, as their tricks for trick or trading. And in 1891 there's documented case of kids smearing new houses, the walls of new houses with black paint. What are you crazy? In 1894, 200 boys in Washington DC used bags of flowers to attack well-dressed people, people in street cars, huh, so they would pour the flower over them.
Speaker 1Oh, I thought it while they were all dressed up like flower, like plant. No cooking. Flower. Bags of flower yes, 200 boys.
Speaker 2Yeah, this was Such a big problem that by the end of 19th century there was a movement to make Halloween more than a community thing. Then, like pranks spooking, take all of that out of it, and newspapers were actually encouraging parents to remove frightening and violent things from their Halloween. Right by the start of the 20th century it started become, it started to really lose its like religious and violent Undertones.
Speaker 1Yeah, they it became serious, like people would shoot at little at 11 and 12 year old Performing pranks. Wow, many people think that that's why, like Ella said that this was why the trick trick part of trick or treating it's kind of really down, it dialed down. Yeah, I kind of came to an end around the 1930s. And then, um, the superintendent of schools in Rochester, new York, in a newspaper editorial in 1942, um, which is around the time that world war two was escalating, um, he came out and said look, soaping windows and doing things like that is not fun. Like your, your government in our country needs things like soaps and grease for war. Yeah, and then Even ringing doorbells and running away, um, ding dong ditch has lost its appeal because you're disturbing like war workers, people who are working to help the war, you know, help people who are in the war, and then in Chicago.
Speaker 1So they actually in 1942 voted to abolish halloween. Say what they wanted to institute a day called quote unquote conservation day on october 31st. That didn't really go that far, as you can imagine. And then in 1950, um, president Truman Tackled this issue again when he wanted to repurpose halloween into something called youth honor day and he hoped that communities would take this up and celebrate um and like work on the more Morality of children instead of yeah, trick or treating doesn't involve candy.
Speaker 1That did not work either, because here we are, we still trick or treat. Yeah, during, uh, world war two, which was in 1939 and 1945, they actually had to stop trick or treating, not because of the tricks, but because there was sugar rationing during that time, so the ability to get candy and have candy was slim to none and they were rationing the sugar for other things for the war, and so trick or treating kind of died down because of that too. And then it came back later and then after the war, and no one wanted to rename it conservation day or youth honor day, which may be surprising and then um trick or treating came back.
Speaker 1Except when it came back it was more focused on treating, then tricking wow, that's awesome, yeah it. And no one really knows where the phrase trick or treating came from. As you can see, we said earlier, it was called mumming, it was called soling, it was called guising. They didn't call it. It's called trick or treating in old world terms, when they came here and brought different traditions, then they all not mesh, they meshed them together and it somehow became trick or treating. No one really knows. This is the part that I was saying is kind of cloudy or murky. No one really knows where the phrase trick or treating came from.
Speaker 1It's believed that the actual term came from um early, early canadian newspapers, because it showed up there in various forms around 1923 to 1924 and then it showed up in us newspapers in 1928. Huh, huh, this will be your favorite fun fact about trick or treating, ella. Oh, do you know who? Do you know what was thought to really help boost trick or treating? What? The peanuts comic strip? Oh, really, yes, in night. It's believed that the 1951 peanuts comic strip Really helped the popularity of trick or treating because Charles Schultz included trick or treating in his yeah, in his comic strip. So it was then like it started to become popular in Culture, like that. Because then the next year, in 1952, disney produced a cartoon called trick or treating. Oh, it featured Donald Duck and his nephews Huey, dewey and Louie. Oh, I wanted to test you and see if you remembered what their names were. Hey, do you know what Donald Duck's lefties were named?
Speaker 2lefties.
Speaker 1I don't know what the left, so anyway, they were named Huey, dewey and Louie and Um, this is so. Then it started to become popular. Disney included it. But in this cartoon, guess what Uncle Donald wanted to give Huey doing Louie Alcohol instead of candy? What at first what he wanted to give them explosives and their tree bags.
Speaker 2Donald, you're not a rational friend. And then?
Speaker 1They were talked into. He was talked into giving them treats instead. So that's kind of the origin of how Trick or treating came about.
Speaker 2Nobody really understands where the phrasing came from, but that's where it's thought to huh huh, speaking of Naming because you're talking about trick or treating originally had a bunch of different names, right? Why do we call Halloween Halloween, do you know? No well, what I found is all souls day was also called all Hallows, and the night before it Saw, when all how will Steve all?
Speaker 1how is he? I guess I didn't know.
Speaker 2I just forgot You've been in there.
Speaker 1eventually turned into Halloween, so yeah why was the skeleton afraid across the road?
Speaker 2He had no guts. Yeah, did you read my? No, I've heard that one. Oh, I was gonna say he's a scaredy bones, but no, I was like, oh, that's okay Then what is a baby's ghost favorite game?
Speaker 1Baby ghost. What's a baby ghost favorite game? Peekaboo, dang it. I'm good at puns, you're good at the.
Speaker 2I'm good at life you are. That's true.
Candy History and Fun Facts
Speaker 1Okay, so now that we talked about trick or treating, it's only right that we talk about candy, right, right? So I'm just gonna.
Speaker 2I thought it would be fun to kind of give you some different candy facts, since Candy is a big part of trick or treating after the American Civil War, albert and Gustav Golitz traveled to Illinois and after Gustav's passing, his oldest sons were revived, their fathers and their uncles candy business that they had, and they are the believed to be the ones who made candy corn.
Speaker 1Oh yes, candy corn was originally called. I do not know chicken feed. Okay, I have. George Reninger invented candy corn in the 1880s at the goal, it's candy company.
Speaker 2Huh, oh, it is in the goal, it's so. It might have been the company and not them themselves. I might have gotten mixed up.
Speaker 1It was actually made to look like a corn kernel. Yes, and that's why they named it chicken feed, because oh, that's what they fed chickens. Make sense, or?
Speaker 2what you feed chickens. The successor to that company also is the one who made jelly belly say whoa Interesting the Herman go, let's ink.
Speaker 1Oh, I had no idea chicken feed was Changed. The name was changed to Candy corn, candy corn, because who wants to eat chicken feed to? Let's just be honest. It was changed to candy corn in 1940s with the popularity of trick-or-treating. That's why they hey, do you want to stay on a chicken theme, candy theme? There was a Candy bar called the chicken dinner candy bar. What, oh, what do you think of immediately when you hear that? Really wonka, yes, the Willy Wonka. And I wonder now if that segment where violet turns violet because she eats the Gum, she choose the gum, the chicken dinner gum.
Speaker 2Right, I think it's roast beef. Roast beef and pop and pie.
Speaker 1Blueberry Well, blueberry cobbler like, something like that I wonder if it was based on this stuffing. But in 1923 the spary candy company of Milwaukee sold a chicken dinner candy bar for ten cents on. Each of the packages was a roasted chicken. But you're going to be sad, it didn't contain any actual chicken.
Speaker 1That's probably for the best didn't taste like a chicken dinner. This was total marketing and they created it Because there were many other thing candies on the market that time. That was like this these are like protein bar, not, they didn't say protein bars at the time.
Speaker 2Yeah these have protein. They want to make a literal protein. They're with zero of the actual protein.
Speaker 1They wanted the marketing to indicate health in people's minds. So instead of oh, you're eating candy, you're like, oh, this is the chicken dinner candy bar, and it was actually a candy bar, nuts and coated chocolate. Oh, it sold for ten cents. It later reduced its price to five cents reduced from ten cents to Reach more people.
Speaker 1You're gonna love this and I'm gonna put a link on parent busters comm to it. They had a. They had candy bar trucks that went around like ice cream trucks, excuse me and sold the chicken dinner candy bar. Why isn't this a thing? They had an entire fleet of trucks and guess what what? Each one had a different chicken. Wow, I found pictures of them we white and I'm going to post a link to them. Yes, so it was don't think of like a chicken painted on the truck. It was. The truck was a chicken like. It had a Chicken embedded into like the top and the over the top of the truck, in the back. What? Yes, it was like driving a chicken.
Speaker 2Are you crazy?
Speaker 1Amazing if you honked the horn. They can't hold and they crowed, and every single truck was a different chicken Whoa. Oh, sadly, chicken dinner bars ended in 1962. The makers of bit of honey bought the spary candy company and then it just phased it out.
Speaker 2Some change the marketing, that sounds like a good candy bar some.
Speaker 1It was around for 40 years. I'm gonna ask my mom Does she remembers the?
Speaker 1chicken idea if she remembers the chicken dinner candy bar, yeah, if you have someone that was around in. They ended in 1962, so honestly, it's not that long ago. No, if you have someone around in that time frame, ask them if they remember the chicken dinner candy bar and then come on to either our Facebook or Instagram and let us know, because I'm curious, what they say. Yeah, I want to know what they say about how it tasted. Yeah, or if they saw the chick mobile. Yeah, the chick mobile. Um, some people say believe that. That's where the phrase. Some people believe that that's where the phrase winner, winner, chicken dinner came from. They think it came from what? At some carnivals, the chicken dinner candy bar would be a prize If you won a prize at one of the carnival games. However, there's a big, apparently argument oh, a chicken dinner candy bar argument going on, because some people say it did not come from that. It came from Las Vegas when apparently, if you want it, gambling during that time, you actually won a chicken dinner.
Speaker 2Wow, I could see either, yeah for sure.
Speaker 1Oh hey, why was the candy corn comedian boot off the stage? Because he was too corny. Jokes were too corny. You're gonna get every single. I feel like you cheated.
Speaker 2This makes up for me not having him prepared. I can just beat you at your game.
Speaker 1So that was one of my favorite candy facts. Was the chicken dinner candy bar? Because I'd never heard of it. It's crazy. When Do you think that Milton Hershey first introduced the candy bar, the chocolate candy bar? What year? Do you have any guesses? Oh, 1894.
Speaker 2I was thinking it, I was gonna say 1842 when do you think the Snickers bar was introduced?
Speaker 11914, 1930, and then M&Ms were introduced in 1941. Wow, Wow yeah, m&ms were the candy energy stuff, the candy that would not melt. Yeah so that was the big marketing point for that People. It's been said that the Snickers bar was named after a horse that was owned by the Mars family. What about to T rolls? Are you a yay or nay? On to T rolls? Okay, but BC, huh, I mean BB, huh, bb, yeah, before braces. That was a lot to get there in my head.
Speaker 2What you have meant before. Braces, are you a yes or no? On to T, I don't know, cuz I don't think I've had one in so long that I don't have an opinion. Cow tails are kind of similar, right? No?
Speaker 1no, I dare you.
Speaker 2I thought they're similar texturized.
Speaker 1I like both of those cat.
Speaker 2I used to really like cow tails. Now they're okay.
Speaker 1Um, I'm a full two thumbs up on to T rolls, by the way.
Speaker 2I know, everywhere we go we look for those cut T roll bites that are nowhere. I know, like my dad and I are going out to the store and you're like, do they have any? Like no, they're nowhere. And then sadness.
Speaker 1What? Why did the M&M want to go to college? Um, because he wanted to be a smarty. So, anyway, back to so Leo, someone named Leo Hirschfield invented to see rolls in 1896, which was honestly two years after Milton Hershey brought the first candy bar.
Speaker 2Oh he milk chocolate right the.
Speaker 1He invented to see rolls because he wanted to make a, a chocolate candy that wouldn't melt, for his own candy shop. That smart and it is said that he named the candy to see after a nickname that he had for his daughter, clara huh. To see rolls played an important part in World War two. Did you know this? What they were included in field rations for soldiers because it they didn't melt and they could give them quick energy, and Because of their consistency. Where you can, they're malleable and you know you can make them into things.
Speaker 1They used them to patch up bullet holes in equipment and VHS. What are you crazy?
Speaker 2So, so it was equal to having like clay.
Speaker 1Yeah, but they could eat them, so it gave them quick energy and it was also something that they could eat in cold temperatures or warm temperatures.
Speaker 2That is so strange.
Speaker 1Yes, so there are also something called to see roll pops, which are suckers.
Speaker 2Exactly one.
Speaker 1Three there. I have something to say about that. If you don't know what to see roll pops are, I mean how? They're you and to they're suckers that have a tootsie roll inside. Yeah, and you there used to be this in like I don't know. I'm gonna say early 80s, late 70s, early 80s. There used to be this commercial.
Speaker 2I still see the original one on Mr Owl.
Speaker 1So mr Howl said three that's because he licks once, he licks twice, I feel, and then he crunches into it.
Speaker 2Yeah, I feel like I've seen videos where people have Documented how many licks it takes to get it to the city that you should say that.
Speaker 1That's where I'm going with this. Oh, there were. There are studies, not just one, but a group of engineering students from Purdue University in Indiana, hey, reported that it's licky. They made a licking machine Huh, modeled after the human tongue. No, and how many licks do you think the licking machine took to get to the center of a tootsie pop? 1234.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 1It then created this domino effect of other colleges, universities, group schools Doing all different kinds of studies because it depends.
Speaker 2Are you looking in one spot?
Speaker 1Right, you going all over and that's what they all came up with different answers.
Speaker 2That's not shocking.
Speaker 1How many pounds of candy do you think the average American consumes every year?
Speaker 2Oh no.
Speaker 1Oh, so every single American on average clearly Consumes how many pounds of candy 1200.
Speaker 2I'm just going out right, just 24 pounds. Oh, okay, that makes me feel better in 2019.
Speaker 1How many pounds of Skittles do you think Americans purchased? Each or all together, all together 3.3 million pounds of Skittles, okay, 3.3 million pounds of Skittles, okay. The first fun-sized candy bars were Hershey, mr Goodbar, nope, I the fun-sized. The mini ones, oh, no, the fun-sized are the ones that are like this. Yeah, I don't know. Snickers and Milky Way. Oh, in 2020, how many trick-or-treaters do you think there were in the United States under the 18 and under?
Speaker 1when did you say 2020? So this? Those were probably statistics for like at the end of 2019. Yeah, okay, I was gonna say cuz that yeah, the the Statistics were from 2020, so that means that it happened in 2019 point three million seventy three point one million Boy, I know You're gonna love this. Well, first of all, let me, let me quiz you on this. What do you think the top selling Halloween candy in the United States is not skittles, m&m's, reese's peanut butter?
Speaker 2cups. Huh, I was just going for like a portal skills.
Speaker 1M&m's, you're gonna love this.
Speaker 2Japan sells 350 flavors of Kit Kats of course Japan does cuz Japan is Japan and Japan is. Seems to have some pretty cool food and yeah, like food is better than all of us.
Speaker 1They're flay some of their flavors. I mean they're 350. They have the original matcha they have the original one, of course. They have coconut oh cheesecake oh Strawberry, yes, wasabi oh purple sweet potato huh, what are those called?
Speaker 2What are those called? I know what they're called butter.
Howling Traditions Around the World
Speaker 1They have butter, butter, kit Kat, what? And chili, do you know what? I feel like sure that we go to Might have some Japanese Kit Kat. We should look the next time we're there. Yes, market, world market. Yes, we should look the next time we're there. Yes, hey, do you want to end it out on some?
Speaker 2howling traditions around the world. Yeah, I also have some extra, just a little facts that I didn't get in. October 31st is the last day on the Celtic calendar.
Speaker 1Oh, huh huh. And then November 1st starts a new year.
Speaker 2Yep interesting. And then I think that's just good sense of tradition. So that was the only one that wasn't traditions. Francisen celebrate Halloween Halloween until the late 20th century and instead of going house to house for candy, they go to stores that give out candy, and Sometimes kids will ask for money and flowers instead of cat candy, so they can decorate graves.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's called Toussaint, which is all saints day, which is on November 1st. Hey, so that tradition that Ella, the you know Halloween Tradition that we know it's not that big of a deal like it is in. Yeah, in Ireland it was once believed that if you wore your clothes inside out and walked backward on Halloween, you would see a fairy or a witch say what Ella's like. I see that every day. I don't even have to put what do you think?
Speaker 2I see me.
Speaker 1In Hong Kong, people celebrate the hungry ghost festival. It's similar to Halloween and, and during the festival people leave food and gifts out for ghosts. There it is again, and For Halloween on in Germany. I'm gonna have to ask our friends this yeah, some families hide their knives. I was gonna say that that way, when the ghost return, they can't harm them.
Speaker 2Yeah, I was gonna say cuz I didn't find anything else on that, so which?
Speaker 1honestly seems like a terrifying thing. Hey honey, it's time to hide the note Knives so the ghosts won't get us. Yay, in Sweden, children dress up as witches and pranksters on Halloween and go around asking for candy, and that's just like we do.
Speaker 2Also in Germany. Yeah, Halloween is more about the parties than trick-or-treating.
Speaker 1Yeah, I think that seems right, that seems like it how it should be, I think. And what? Probably what we're migrating toward here too. Infant in Finland and I'm so sorry I didn't look up the pronunciation of this, how dare you. Keckary is A fall festival, that it's on November 1st, and guess what happens then? What? It's time for spirits of the dead to visit those on earth. I'm seeing a pattern correlation. Yeah, in Brazil people celebrate Dia das Bruchas, huh, it's. Or that translates to day of the witches.
Speaker 2Oh, it's an on October 31st, which is the same day as Halloween, and on this day people dress up as witches and they have parties and Retz Austria an annual pumpkin festivals called held, called Curbis Fest, and it's usually known for its pumpkins, its parties, and it also holds a Halloween parade called Halloween umsuk oh.
Speaker 1It seems very similar. I mean, there are similarities in almost all of these, no matter where you are. So Halloween wasn't really a thing in Japan, but guess what made it popular?
Speaker 2the costumes.
Speaker 1Halloween's on explosion, an interest in Japan. Yeah, after Disney celebrated Halloween in 2000 in Japan, that the Tradition that's most like it is called again I apologize for this Obon and it's in August, but it's a day to honor dead ancestors and they think that they believe that they return to the earth During Obon in August to visit the relatives. Huh, but how the Halloween that we know in North America Became super popular in Japan after Disney? In China people celebrate the moon festival. Oh, yeah, also called the mooncake festival or mid-autumn festival. Yes, during the festival people eat mooncakes and admire the moon. Yeah, they also have something called the hungry ghost festival or the Yuen Festival. Or take Tang Shiei, I'm so sorry, and and that's on the 14th night of the seventh lunar month in the rotating Chinese calendar. Those are dang kind of similar festivals. In Australia, halloween's not very popular, but it's growing, growing interest is happening and people are celebrating by having parties and dressing up on costumes. In Italy, generally not celebrated, but it's also growing in popularity and in Greece.
Speaker 1Nope, oh. People don't celebrate Halloween, but they have something referred to as Greek Halloween. It is called apocris Huh, sorry or Carnival, and that's in February.
Speaker 1It's more like what we know about Mardi Gras that takes place before oh, almost like that about that's probably like the closest thing that they have to Halloween in Greece and you kind of referred this to this earlier and we talked about it with dunking for apples but in Scotland, children play a Halloween Halloween party game called duke for apples, oh yeah, where they catch an apple floating in the water without using their hands. Oh yeah, that was the other part that I had to tell you about bobbing for apples. You had to put your hands behind your back. Oh oh. So that's terrifying. It's in Scotland, though. Now, this is smart. In Scotland, they either try to bite it or they try to stab it with a fork in their mouth. So you hold a fork in your mouth and you try to get. Now, that way, that's much less dangerous. Yeah, I'm not dangerous, but maybe like not as gross with people like Salivating into the water. It depends. Do they change?
Speaker 2forks yeah.
Speaker 1I don't know, hey. Um, what do you call a sheep covered in chocolate? A candy bar?
Speaker 2What am I trying to think of God the hava?
Speaker 1yes, hey, I'm gonna give you the answers to choose from life. Yes, I'll read them and then you tell me if they're a truth or a lie. Okay, the first trick or treat was called mumbing.
Speaker 2Yes, well, one of the first true people historically were costumes to trick ghosts.
Speaker 1Yes, true, and the top-selling Halloween candy in the United States is Skittles that is Correct that's not correct, correct and correct.
Speaker 2All right. Happy Halloween, everyone Happy.
Speaker 1Have fun, you enjoyed this kind of spooky episode? Not really. That's okay. Okay, happy Halloween.
Promoting Podcast and Website Resources
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