Mischievous Night

Tonight is Bonfire Night, a British tradition dating back to 1605 when Guy Fawkes tried to blow up the Houses of Parliament. The bonfire was initially lit on the anniversary as a celebration that King James 1st had survived but soon the tradition began where an effigy of Guy Fawkes was thrown on to the bonfire. The kids would spend the day making the'Guy' from old clothes, stuffing it with straw and soon started taking it around the streets shouting 'penny for the guy' which they would then spend on fireworks for the evening.

Read more: http://www.bonfirenight.net/gunpowder.php

I remember when I was young we looked forward to mischievous night. This, for us, was always the night before Bonfire Night, the 4th of November. That was the night we were 'allowed' to play tricks on others. Taking gates from the local houses and stashing them at the end of the street, tying the front and back door handles together so they had difficulty opening the doors, putting black shoe polish on the handle to the garage or the 2 front doors of neighbouring houses. Throwing toilet rolls around the garden and sometimes over the roof of the house, backwards and forwards.

It was all harmless fun, no damage was done and it was tolerated for that one night only. 

So, this year I got wondering how did it get moved to Halloween? 

Half an hour on Google has led me to subscribe to the view that the tradition was taken to America by emigrating Brits, but as the Gunpowder plot meant nothing to the American's, it got moved to Halloween and evolved into 'Trick or Treat'. In my younger days the person subjected to the prank didn't get the option of giving us a treat to stop us, in fact the one down side to the whole tradition was that in most cases we weren't around to see the look on the person's face when they discovered what we'd done. But, being the grown up now, I have an idea how they felt - not pleased!

Read more: http://halloween.wikia.com/wiki/Mischief_Night