“Charity, please” (Halloween request)
“Trick or treat!” is a popular Halloween shout. “Charity, please!” is another cry that has been popular in Canada, especially in the province of Quebec. “La charité, s’il vous plaît” is the French version of this Halloween request.
“General amusement will also be caused by the youngsters who travel from door to door in the guise of ghosts and starving beggar women, seeking charity from those they visit” was printed in the Montreal (Quebec Daily Star on October 30, 2020. “Hosts of beggars, in a pitiable state of poverty to judge from the rags in which they were partially clad, whole caravans of gypsies, boldly asking for charity, and daring hold-up men went from house to house” was printed in the Montreal (Quebec) Daily Star on November 1, 1920. “They’re pretty sure to ring your bell/ Tonight, if you’re at home,/ So give your largesse cheerfully/ When ‘Charity’ they moan” was printed in the Montreal (Quebec) Daily Star on October 28, 1922.
“he streets were gay with bright fancy-dress costumes, running the wildest gamut of imagination, worn by children and boys and girls who refused to grow up, while the air was filled with the noise of bells, whistles, fireworks and piping appeals for ‘Charity, please’” was printed in the Montreal (Quebec), Daily Star on November 1, 1927. “But if you hear a loud knocking at your door Monday night and a small voice says ‘Charity, please,’ remember that the children consider Hallowe’en their particular feast” was printed in the Montreal (Quebec) Daily Star on October 29, 1932.
“Halloween apples!” and “Shell out!” are other Halloween shouts.
Wikipedia: Trick-or-treating
Trick-or-treating is a traditional Halloween custom for children and adults in some countries. In the evening before All Saints’ Day (1 November), children in costumes travel from house to house, asking for treats with the phrase “Trick or treat”. The “treat” is usually some form of candy, although in some cultures money is given instead. The “trick” refers to a threat, usually idle, to perform mischief on the homeowner(s) or their property if no treat is given. Trick-or-treating usually occurs on the evening of October 31.
Newspapers.com
30 October 1920, Montreal (Quebec) Daily Star, pg. 3, col. 4:
WITCHES RIDE
BROOMS TONIGHT
(...)
General amusement will also be caused by the youngsters who travel from door to door in the guise of ghosts and starving beggar women, seeking charity from those they visit.
Newspapers.com
1 November 1920, Montreal (Quebec) Daily Star, pg. 3, col. 5:
GHOSTS CONSORTED
WITH HOLD-UP MEN
Many Weird and Varied
Characters Paraded the
Streets at Hallowe’en
Ghosts and witches were not the only weird and unaccustomed sights viewed by residents of the city who were abroad on Saturday night. Hosts of beggars, in a pitiable state of poverty to judge from the rags in which they were partially clad, whole caravans of gypsies, boldly asking for charity, and daring hold-up men went from house to house.
Newspapers.com
28 October 1922, Montreal (Quebec) Daily Star, pg. 22, col. 4:
“WITCHCRAFT.”
‘Tis Hallowe’en, and well you know
How witches flit about;
Here’s some advice to grown-up folks
Who think they’ll shut them out.
They’re pretty sure to ring your bell
Tonight, if you’re at home,
So give your largesse cheerfully
When “Charity” they moan.
(...)
So treat them very kindly,
Small dainties for them save;
It’s only just at Hallowe’en
Your charity they crave.
Montreal. B. E. OGDEN
Newspapers.com
31 October 1925, Montreal (Quebec) Daily Star, pg. 10, col. 1:
HALLOWE’EN.
(...)
The walking abroad of spirits, the popular prevailing idea about the night of October 31, may have some direct, ir remote, connection with the parade of young people in all sorts of disguises. It is extremely doubtful if it explains the almost universal appeal they delight in making for “Charity” from door to door.
Newspapers.com
1 November 1927, Montreal (Quebec), Daily Star, pg. 13, col. 3:
HALLOWE’EN CELEBRATED
IN STREETS AND HOMES
IN SPIRIT OF CARNIVAL
Carnival ran riot in the streets of Montreal and the surrounding districts last night in the annual celebration of Hallowe’en. The streets were gay with bright fancy-dress costumes, running the wildest gamut of imagination, worn by children and boys and girls who refused to grow up, while the air was filled with the noise of bells, whistles, fireworks and piping appeals for “Charity, please.”
Newspapers.com
29 October 1932, Montreal (Quebec) Daily Star, pg. 6, col. 2:
ARE WE SCARED?
(...)
But if you hear a loud knocking at your door Monday night and a small voice says “Charity, please,” remember that the children consider Hallowe’en their particular feast and they’ve decked themselves in their costumes and disguised themselves as best they could in order to follow that ancient custom which is still carried out in Scotland to the cry of eeely, olly, eeely, olly.”
Newspapers.com
26 October 1935, Montreal (Quebec) Daily Star, pg. 14, col. 1:
Last Hallowe’en my door bell kept ringing and ringing and I heard little voices that were quite familiar say “Charity, please”.
Newspapers.com
2 November 1936, Montreal (Quebec) Daily Star, pg. 33, col. 3:
HALLOWE’EN MARKED
BY MANY CELEBRATIONS
Old and Young Join In
GAYETY
Gayety reigned in Montreal Saturday night as citizens celebrated Hallowe’en—the older people at dances and parties in hotels and public halls, the youngsters by parading the streets in fantastic costumes begging “for charity, please.”
Newspapers.com
29 October 1938, Montreal (Quebec) Daily Star, pg. 25, col. 4:
Charity, Please”
Hallowe’en Greetings and “Beggars” Method of Approach
Vary in Different Parts of Canada, but the Apple
Remains, as in Days of Ancient Rome, Fruit Most
Closely Connected With This Festival
(...)
In the Maritime Provinces the children in disguise call at neighbors’ houses with a modest “guess who,” and the implication anything in the way of candy, apples or money would be acceptable. The procedure in Quebec is much about the same, weird-looking callers who say “charity, please” drawing generous contributions from householders prompted by previous experience to provide for the raid.
Newspapers.com
30 October 1939, The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), pg. 7, col. 7 ad:
Last Minute Suggestions for
HALLOWE’EN
Strange figures will appear at your
door tomorrow nights—ghosts and
witches and black cats, even pi-
rates!—with the familiar plea
“Charity, Please!”
(The T. Eaton Co. Limited of Montreal.—ed.)
Newspapers.com
29 October 1955, Victoria (BC) Daily Times, “Youngsters May Jump Gun: Halloween Double-Barreled This Year?” by Tony Dickason, pg. 15, col. 5:
Kids, sometimes culturally called children, have a rote through Canada in their noisy solicitations at neighborhood homes. Here they call “trick or treat”; on the Prairies they say “any Hallowe’en apples” (crude, but direct) and in Quebec they bellow “charitie.”
Newspapers.com
27 October 1956, The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), pg. 23, col. 6 photo caption:
There’ll be high-jinks, goblins and “Charity, please”
27 October 1956, The Gazette (Montreal, Quebec), “Many Clubs Planning Special Indoor Parties,” pg. 23, col. 7:
Montrealers are convinced, however, that modern-day children are more terse. They are more likely to appear at the front door and let out the simple chirp, “Charity, please” or sometimes “trick or treat.”
Newspapers.com
30 October 1957, Victoria (BC) Daily Times, “One Night to Howl: Pint-Sized Spectres Ready for Halloween” by Tony Dickason, pg. 30, col. 4:
The children here in their visits from door to door in the neighborhood say “trick or treat.” On the prairies, the youngsters merely yell “any Halloween apples?” while in Frenchspeaking Canada they shout “charitie!”
Newspapers.com
29 October 1960, Ottawa (ON) Citizen, “It’s No Trick To Treat” by Margaret Oliver, Weekend Magazine, pg. 42, col. 2:
There is no other time quite like Hallowe’en for the youngsters. The words that echo down Canadian streets may be slightly different. In some parts of the country there are “Hallowe’en apples!” In others they are “Trick or treat!” or “Charity!”
Google Groups: alt.fifty-plus.friends
Hallowe’en .. arghh!
Lorraine Verona
Oct 27, 2000, 4:36:27 PM
(...)
My little Ylarie has been working on her costume for almost 3 months now. This year, she will be a cat and she has been describing her costume or what has been done on it, every week on the phone 😊 she even speaks like a cat and I had to listen to her asking for “la charite s’il vous plait” that’s what little Quebecers say at the door 😊
Google Groups: easterncallies
Eastern Jhb Callies October 2008 newsletter
Patrick Craven
Oct 16, 2008, 4:36:59 PM
(...)
Until the 1990s, Irish children said “Help the Halloween Party,” but are now more inclined to use the American “Trick or treat” due to the influence of American popular culture, movies, and television. In Waterford, the phrase “attin far Halloween” is still commonly used, being the vernacular pronunciation of “anything for Halloween”. In Quebec, Canada, children also go door to door on Halloween. However, in French speaking neighbourhoods, instead of “Trick or treat?”, they will simply say “Halloween”, though in tradition it used to be ,i>La charité s’il-vous-plaît (Charity, please).
Twitter
j kerr
@jKerrm
Replying to @jKerrm @craignorriscbc and @matthewjdowd
Background-Wikipedia:
“In Quebec [Canada], children also go door to door on Halloween.
However, in French speaking neighbourhoods, instead of “Trick or treat?”, they will simply say “Halloween”, though in tradition it used to be La charité s’il-vous-plaît (“Charity, please”).”
8:30 AM · Oct 31, 2018·Twitter Web Client
Twitter
Twin Parks Community
@yegtpcl
In some parts of #Canada, children sometimes say #Halloweenapples instead of #TrickORTreat This originated when the toffee apple was a popular type of candy.
In French-speaking neighbourhoods instead of they say #Halloween La charité, s’il-vous-plaît”
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trick-or-treating
8:20 PM · Oct 16, 2020·Twitter for Android