Happy birthday to us.
That's right.
Who Smarted turned five years old this month.
How exciting.
That's not all.
Who Smarted also reached 25 million downloads.
And that's because of you, our Smarty Pants listeners.
And to celebrate, we want to give you a gift.
What is this gift, you're wondering?
I'm glad you asked.
If you love Who Smarted, I'm sure you've heard us mention our Who Smarted Plus subscription.
You know, the one that gives you a brand new bonus episode every week.
Plus, every episode of Who Smarted, trusty trivia, and smarty cues ad-free.
Not to mention subscribers, directly support Who Smarted so we can keep making the show for many more years to come.
And to show our appreciation to you, we're offering a 50% discount on our annual subscription.
We've never done this before.
Instead of 3999 for a full year of smarting, you can subscribe to Who Smarted Plus for just 1998, a year.
That's right.
Who Smarted Plus is half off?
Quick quiz, smarty pants.
Is $19.98 a year the same as A, $1.67 a month, B, $0.38 a week, or C, a nickel a day?
Did you say all of the above?
You're right.
Just think of all the time you'll save not listening to ads while enjoying subscriber-only special episodes.
That's got to be worth at least $0.05 a day, right?
Of course, an offer this good can't last forever.
So you must subscribe by November 15th to lock in your 50% off Who Smarted Plus subscription.
Again, that's 50 off our Who Smarted Plus subscription just 1998 for the entire year by November 15th.
To join the celebration, go to our website, whosmarted.com and click birthday subscribe.
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Don't worry, you can play your subscription on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or any other podcast platform.
But to get the special birthday price you have to go to whosmartedcom and click birthday subscribe in the top menu.
But remember, you only have until November 15th.
So sign up at whosmarted.com today.
Psst, hey, Smarty Pants.
I'm standing outside my house on a lovely fall evening.
The leaves are just beginning to... Whoa, what was that?
Did you say a cackling witch?
Maybe it was just someone's grandma hearing a funny joke?
Anyway, like I always say, boo!
What was that?
Did you say a ghost?
Why did ghosts say boo?
Maybe it was someone watching baseball and their team is losing?
Anywho.
Trick or treat.
Ah, it's a giant talking cheese puff.
That's even scarier than a witch or a ghost.
Well, maybe not scarier, but definitely tastier.
It's just me, trusty narrator.
Your neighbor, Addie.
I'm dressed as a cheese puff for Halloween.
Oh, I totally forgot it was Halloween.
That also explains the witch and the ghost and the kid dressed as an Amazon delivery guy.
No, that is an Amazon delivery guy.
I forgot to order my giant plastic pumpkin to put all my candy in.
Can you sign for it?
Cheese puffs don't have arms.
Sure.
Here you go.
Wow, that's a really big plastic pumpkin.
Here you go.
Um... how are you going to carry it with no arms?
Maybe you could carry it and come trick or treating with me.
Sure.
Why not?
I'm just hosting a podcast.
Anyway, what are your favorite candies?
Ooh, I like peanut butter cups, chocolate rice, crispy treats, sour patch kids.
Nice smarty pants.
What are your favorite candies to get on Halloween?
Shout them out.
Ooh, lots of good answers.
And don't forget to brush your teeth tonight.
I won't.
Ooh, there's a bowl of M&M's across the street.
Come on.
Coming.
But first, have you ever wondered where the traditions of Halloween came from?
Why do you trick-or-treat?
Or dress up in costumes?
Or carve pumpkins?
I have.
In between eating as much candy as my mom will let me.
Or until I barf.
Good, because we're about to answer those questions and more.
It's time for another whiff of science and history on Who Smarted?
Who Smarted?
Who's smart?
Is it you?
Is it me?
Is it science or history?
Listen up, everyone.
We make smarting lots of fun on Who Smarted?
Like most holidays in America, Halloween comes from a mix of different cultures.
To understand how these Halloween traditions began, we have to go back 2000 years ago, to a time when people called the Celts lived mostly in the land that we now call Ireland.
Top of the morning to you.
Didn't some Celts also live in what are now the United Kingdom and France?
Why, yes, Addy, you are correct.
Bonjour.
Anyway, their new year started on November 1st, the beginning of winter, which was when sadly, a lot of people would die of disease and hunger and cold.
It was a very scary time.
The days were short.
The night was black.
The electricity didn't exist yet.
There often wasn't enough food.
Let's face it, lots of people back then were very anxious as winter approached.
It's so dark and cold and I'm hungry and me soccer team stinks.
The Celts called New Year's Eve, October 31st Samhain, the Festival of the Dying Sun, or occasionally the Feast of the Dead.
The word Samhain means summer's end.
On this night, they believed, the ghosts of the dead would return to roam the earth.
So the Celts would carve scary faces into potatoes or turnips and put them by their windows and doors to keep the evil spirits away.
Hey, just like jack-o'-lanterns.
Exactly.
They might have used pumpkins too, except there weren't any pumpkins in that part of the world.
But what about trick-or-treating or wearing costumes?
Where did that come from?
Ah, yes.
The Celts would also put bowls of yummy food outside their houses to keep the ghosts happy.
And if a Celt had to leave their house that night, they'd wear a ghost costume, so the ghosts would think they were also a ghost and leave them alone.
It's just me, another ghost, minding me business.
Boo.
To celebrate this night, they'd build big bonfires. and burn crops as a sacrifice to the gods.
And they wore costumes made out of animal heads and skins.
It's not you, Jasper.
Or is it an actual bear?
And the regular folks would tell each other's fortunes that night, too.
I predict you will meet a handsome lad at the festival and become the owner of a flower shop.
Then they lit their own fireplaces from the bonfire to protect them for what the winter had in store.
Uh, did I miss the part about the candy?
Getting to that.
So, then the Romans by 43 AD... You mean the year 43?
Like today it's 2021?
And this was... 1,978 years ago?
Yes, around 1,978 years ago, the Roman Empire had taken over most of the Celts' land.
And they started to combine their own winter festivals with Samhain.
There was Feralia, a day when Romans honored the dead in late October.
We honor you, oh dead ones.
There was also a day to honor Pamona, the Roman goddess of trees and fruit, which may be how bobbing for apples became a Halloween tradition.
Mmm, yum, a Granny Smith.
Eventually, the Christians took over from the Romans, and their traditions became part of the celebration too.
By the 8th century, Pope Gregory III made November 1st All Saints Day to honor saints and the dead, and the night before became known as All Hallows' Eve and later, you guessed it Halloween, which means Saints' Evening.
Then, in 1000 AD, they named November 2nd All Souls Day.
This is starting to get confusing.
I know, I know.
The point is, different cultures changed the names and traditions slightly, mainly because they were trying to take over the previous culture.
But what they actually did on that day was always kind of the same.
It was always about the beginning of winter and honoring the dead.
There were bonfires and parades and dressing up in costumes.
And when the Christians took over, there were more people dressing up as angels and devils, not just ghosts.
And the poor would go from house to house asking for money or food.
Hello, can you spare some money or food?
Here you go, my friend.
Some families would hand out pastries called soul cakes, but only if the visitors promised to pray for the dead relatives of the family.
They call this practice going a-souling.
Makes sense.
But what about the candy?
We'll get to that, I promise, right after this quick break.
Now back to Who Smarted?
Candy, candy, candy.
Yes, yes, yes, okay.
So you've learned how Halloween evolved in Europe, but how do you think it started in the place that we now call America?
I'm guessing from the English settlers who came over from Europe.
Is that Plymouth Rock yonder?
Absolutely, but they didn't do it alone.
In the new America.
The Protestants in the Northeast didn't celebrate Halloween much, but it was still a thing in the Southern colonies.
Over time however, the settlers began to incorporate customs of all of the different ethnic groups that had come to America, including some customs of the Native Americans who were already here.
I'm really enjoying this multicolored corn they have.
We should make a small, chewy, triangular candy based on it someday.
There were parties to celebrate autumn.
Let us give thanks.
People would share stories of those who had passed.
Long ago, the ancestor was attacked by a bear.
He thought it was his friend, Jasper.
And ghost stories.
And that's when we heard a loud boom.
There was singing and dancing.
Check it out.
It's the no electricity slide.
Eventually, as more Irish immigrated to America in the 19th century, Halloween became popular all over the country.
Folks wore costumes and, since there weren't many turnips around, they began to carve, something that's native to this land.
Any guesses what it is?
Pumpkins!
Correct!
Jack O' Lantern was born.
And they gave out candy?
Not quite.
Definitely not like today.
Halloween had been all about religious beliefs and death and winter and visions of the future.
But eventually, in America especially, it became more of a family slash community holiday.
And its grim origins slipped away.
It stayed spooky, but it certainly wasn't religious anymore.
In fact, Halloween parties started to get kind of destructive.
Trick-or-treating probably started in the 1920s, but Halloween became associated with the tricks more than the treats.
In some places, the night before Halloween was called Mischief Night.
Everything from soaping windows and spraying shaving cream to throwing eggs in toilet, papering houses, trees and bushes to breaking things and setting fires.
Vandalism?
Not cool.
In the 1950s, when there was a big baby boom and a lot more kids around town, leaders decided that maybe Halloween should be less about adults partying and more about kids.
Okay, I've got everyone's costumes.
I've got a cowboy, a cowgirl, Zorro, Tarzan, Davy Crockett, and Annie Oakley.
Ooh, Annie Oakley costume sounds cool.
But what about the candy?
Stop holding out on me.
Okay, okay.
Like I said, the middle of the 20th century, the 1950s and 60s, is when trick-or-treating really became the biggest part of Halloween.
Instead of the original tradition of the less fortunate going from house to house and asking for food, children would now go from house to house asking for treats.
Trick or treat!
And people would hand out sweets.
At first, baked goods.
And later, store-bought candy.
So kids wouldn't play tricks on them.
Trick or treat.
Got it.
Not that I'd play a trick on anyone.
Of course you wouldn't.
And lucky for you kids, a lot of people like to give treats.
Hey Smarty Pants, can you guess how much money Americans spend on Halloween every year between the costumes, the decorations and the candy?
Is it A, $6 million?
B, $60 million?
C, $600 million?
Or D, $6 billion?
Did you say $60 million?
Nope.
Try D, $6 billion.
Whoa.
Yeah, whoa.
The only holiday Americans spend more on is Christmas.
And a quarter of all of the candy sold throughout the entire year is for Halloween.
That's crazy.
And awesome.
Yep.
Halloween went from real-life spooky and actual scary to pretend spooky and fun scary.
And eating candy.
And it's not just kids dressing up in costumes.
These days, people even buy costumes for their pets.
My dog Juju's going as Taylor Swift this year.
Of course she is.
So let me get this straight.
Halloween began as a way to deal with the scary reality of life.
Then it kept evolving and changing as different cultures joined, until it became more about fun and making money than beliefs.
And then it stopped evolving.
Yep.
Nailed it.
Smart kid.
Now, if you allow me, I will tell your fortune.
I predict you'll have an awesome night of trick-or-treating, after which you'll eat one or two candies and brush your teeth very, very well before you go to bed.
Boo!
Just kidding.
That sounds wicked.
A spooky shout out to super smarty fan Edward in Auburndale, Florida.
You said the trusty narrator is the best narrator and is definitely trusty.
Aw, thanks, Edward.
You know how to make a trusty narrator happy.
This episode Halloween, was written by Lisa Selin Davis and Athena Sherwin and voiced by Gia Goblin Davis, Brandon Boogeyman Bayliss, Kim Sweet Tooth Davis, Adam Tricks Davis and Jerry Colbert.
Technical direction and sound design by Josh Haunted Hahn.
Who Smarted? is recorded and mixed at the Relic Room Studios.
Our associate producer is Monster Max Kamaski.
The theme song is by Brian Black Cat Suarez, with lyrics written and performed by Adam Tex Davis.
Who Smarted? was created and produced by Adam Tex Davis and Jerry Colbert.
This has been an Atomic Entertainment production.
Boo.
Who Smarted?
