A very popular unofficial holiday during the late 1930s and the 1940s in Greenbelt was Halloween (Neville). Halloween in Greenbelt was a big holiday for children (Neville). In fact, Halloween traditions in the 1940s were very similar to modern ones, with one or two exceptions.

In Greenbelt during the 1940s, children dressed up in Halloween costumes as modern children do (Neville). Some children's costumes were store-bought and some were homemade (Neville). Some costumes were created out of whatever one could find lying about their house (Neville).

Greenbelt children went out trick-or-treating in groups on Halloween night, as modern children do (Neville). They did not go trick-or-treating in hopes of collecting the kinds of sticky, preservative-laden treats that today's youngster's seek. Rather, they would go trick-or-treating carrying grocery sacks, in hopes of collecting candy and gum, fruit, and homemade treats such as cookies, cakes, and popcorn balls (Neville). At the end of their excursion, the children would return home, their sacks heavy, nearly full, and tearing under the strain of their heavy load (Neville). This was not really because the children visited a large number of homes, but because the kinds of treats that they received--namely popcorn balls and candied apples--were heavy and large (Neville). On Halloween night children would visit a house in hopes of receiving a treat, and might have the chance to bob for apples, a popular Halloween activity (Neville).

However, the largest difference between modern Halloweens and a Halloween in the 1940s becomes obvious in the "trick" department. Certainly children travel from house to house chanting "Trick or Treat", but how many of us as children have ever performed a Halloween trick to earn our candy? In Greenbelt during the 1940s, it was the grown-ups who were most likely to play tricks on the children (Neville). They would make "peeled grape eyeballs", or make their visitors come in to perform a trick for them before earning their candy (Neville). A trick might have been telling a story, joke, or reciting a poem, singing a song, or even standing on one's head (Neville)! Today's Halloweens would seem tame by 1940s Greenbelt standards.

While Greenbelt did not provide any tradition town-wide activities for trick-or-treaters, the town did have a haunted house (Neville). Not a "pretend" haunted house, but a real live one that was located right in the middle of Ridge Road--"a dilapidated farm-house" (Neville). Most likely, the older children enjoyed some scarier Halloween adventures there (Neville).

Halloween has not really changed that much since the 1940s. Who knows how much or how little Halloweens will change in future years.

For information regarding the origins of Halloween, explore:

The History of Halloween