不给糖，就捣蛋：万圣节为何“非糖不可”？

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Today, Americans spend an estimated $3.1 billion on candy on Halloween, according to the National Retail Federation(NRF), and the day, itself, has become the nation’s second-largest commercial holiday.

Consumers plan to spend $100 on average for Halloween candy, décor, cards and costumes. This amount is on par with last year’s record of $103 and is the second highest in the survey’s history.  

One quarter of all the candy sold annually in the U.S. is purchased for Halloween.How Halloween candy enters the picture and takes off?

糖果如何成为万圣节“标配”？

Candy corn is perhaps one of the oldest Halloween candies still eaten today, dating back to the 1880s. It was first supposedly invented by George Renninger, a candymaker at Philadelphia’s Wunderle Candy Company. In 1900, the Goelitz Candy Co. began making it in large quantities. Candy corn was designed to look like chicken feed, since at the time candy corn first emerged, about half of Americans worked on farms.

Halloween candy became quite popular around the turn of the 20th century. Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bar was first produced in 1900, with Hershey’s Kisses following seven years later. Chocolate was previously considered a luxury item rarely consumed by the average American, but Hershey’s chocolate factory in Pennsylvania allowed the chocolate to be mass produced for significantly cheaper prices.

Although candy companies produced candy such as the Milky Way bar and Snickers bar in the 1920s and early 1930s, candy was not yet the definitive Halloween treat it is today. Sugar became more affordable around this time, which made candy cheaper to produce, but trick-or-treating often involved the distribution of cookies, fruit, nuts and even toys and money.

Organized trick-or-treating grew in the 1930s partially in response to dangerous pranks on Halloween during the Great Depression, but this was suddenly halted when World War II broke out. Sugar rationing meant that only a few had access to candy, so people needed to get creative with Halloween food traditions.  In the 1950s, candy manufacturers began to get in on the act and promote their products for Halloween, and as trick-or-treating became more popular, candy was increasingly regarded as an affordable, convenient offering. 

It wasn’t until the 1970s, though, that wrapped, factory-made candy was viewed as the only acceptable thing to hand out to all the little ghosts and goblins that showed up on people’s doorsteps. A key reason for this was safety, as parents feared that real-life boogeymen might tamper with goodies that weren’t store-bought and sealed.

   家长们的噩梦：万圣节暗藏毒糖果？

Rumors of tainted, poisoned or otherwise murderous Halloween candy handed out to unsuspecting youngsters are as much a part of the Halloween tradition as costumes and sing-song pleas for sweets. The myth goes like this—no kid is safe on October 31 because psychotic murderers may hand out tainted treats to trick-or-treating children.

The Halloween candy scare likely began with a 1970 New York Times op-ed suggesting that strangers could use trick-or-treating as a way to poison children, citing two unconfirmed incidents in upstate New York speculating that an apple might have a razor blade hidden inside. Halloween candy sales in 1982 dropped by 20% to 50%, and 40 American cities canceled Halloween entirely, according to Eater’s “Gastropod” podcast.

However, a comprehensive 1985 study of 30 years of alleged poisoning did not find even a single confirmed incident of a child’s death, or even serious injury.

Joel Best who led the study, called it an “urban legend.” Most reports of poisoned Halloween candy that appeared in print were editorials written by authoritative voices in politics and media rather than actual events. However, police all over the country urged parents to accompany their children while trick-or-treating. 

     穿得够“万圣”，糖袋才万盛？

A new poll of 2,000 parents revealed that scary (15%) and pop culture-themed (13%) costume wearers also tend to fill up candy bags faster. It was conducted by OnePoll on behalf of HI-CHEW, the survey sought to uncover how parents are taking the spooky and sweet to create a memorable Halloween experience for their children

Three in five (61%) believe that creative costumes garner more candy. So it’s no surprise that kids are asking for classic costumes such as pirates and vampires (41%), scary (41%), superheroes and villains (39%) and pop culture (39%).

NFR shows costumes account for the biggest area of Halloween purchases. Spending on kids’ and adult costumes is expected to total $2.9 billion, the highest amount since 2017.