<P> Trick - or - treating is a Halloween ritual custom for children and adults in many countries . Children in costumes travel from house - to - house, asking for treats with the phrase "Trick or treat". The "treat" is usually some form of candy, although, in some cultures, money is used instead . The "trick" is a usually idle threat to perform mischief on the homeowners or their property if no treat is given . Trick - or - treating usually occurs on the evening of October 31 . Some homeowners signal that they are willing to hand out treats by putting up Halloween decorations outside their doors; others simply leave treats available on their porches for the children to take freely . </P> <P> In North America, trick - or - treating has been a Halloween tradition since the late 1920s . In Britain and Ireland the tradition of going house - to - house collecting food at Halloween goes back at least as far as the 16th century, as had the tradition of people wearing costumes at Halloween . In 19th century Britain and Ireland, there are many accounts of people going house - to - house in costume at Halloween, reciting verses in exchange for food, and sometimes warning of misfortune if they were not welcomed . The Scottish Halloween custom of "guising"--children disguised in costume going from house to house for food or money--is first recorded in North America in 1911 in Ontario, Canada . While going house - to - house in costume has remained popular among Scots and Irish, the custom of saying "trick or treat" has only recently become common . The activity is prevalent in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, the Republic of Ireland, Puerto Rico, and northwestern and central Mexico . In the latter, this practice is called calaverita (Spanish for "sugar skull"), and instead of "trick or treat", the children ask ¿ me da mi calaverita? ("can you give me my sugar skull?") where a calaverita is a small skull made of sugar or chocolate . </P> <P> Traditions similar to the modern custom of trick - or - treating extend all the way back to classical antiquity, although it is extremely unlikely that any of them are directly related to the modern custom . The ancient Greek writer Athenaeus of Naucratis records in his book The Deipnosophists that, in ancient times, the Greek island of Rhodes had a custom in which children would go from door - to - door dressed as swallows, singing a song, which demanded the owners of the house to give them food and threatened to cause mischief if the owners of the house refused . This tradition was claimed to have been started by the Rhodian lawgiver Cleobulus . </P>

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