Soul Cakes and the Origins of Trick or Treating
Failed to add items
Add to basket failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from Wish List failed.
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
Soul Cakes and the Origins of Trick or Treating
-
Narrated by:
-
By:
About this listen
It’s spooky season, and Farms and Frontlines is diving into the surprising history behind trick-or-treating.
Max and Jessica trace the tradition all the way back to the Celtic festival of Samhain, when families left food to appease wandering spirits, and through the Catholic Church’s “soul cakes” that children collected while praying for the dead. From medieval souling to Scottish and Irish “guising,” the practice eventually crossed the Atlantic, where American suburbs, postwar candy companies, and even Peanuts comics turned it into the Halloween we know today.
Along the way, Max and Jess uncover why soul cakes might have been the original pumpkin spice, how candy corn started life as “chicken feed,” and why the end of World War II’s sugar rationing was the real turning point for Halloween candy. Expect stories of VHS tapes in trick-or-treat bags, pranks gone wrong during the Great Depression, and the surprising link between peanut butter, Hershey, and Reese’s Cups.
From ancient bonfires to candy capitalism, this episode explores how food and ritual shaped one of the most beloved holidays in America—and why every Kit Kat still has an ancestor in a little cake baked for the souls of the dead.