the.com/halloween
The one night a year strangers reward children for extortion in costume.
means An October 31 festival of costumes, candy, and cheerful spookiness, descended from ancient harvest and dead-honoring rites.
from Contracted from All Hallows' Eve, the night before All Saints' Day, itself layered atop the Celtic harvest festival Samhain when the dead supposedly wandered.
Original lanternCarved turnips, not pumpkins, in old Ireland.
Trick or treatPhrase only caught on in 1920s America.
Costume logicDisguises once fooled roaming spirits into ignoring you.
Candy economyAmericans buy billions in sweets each October.