Beggars’ Night And Other Weird Halloween Traditions

If you know a Colorado transplant from Iowa, they may at some point asked you when and where "Beggars' Night" is happening in the area. Your reaction, of course, will be something along the lines of, "What the heck is Beggars' Night?" And that's a totally valid response, because Beggars' Night is one of those weird Halloween traditions that is only observed in Iowa and parts of Massachusetts, Wisconsin, western New York, and New Hampshire.

Though it's separate from Halloween, Beggars' Night is essentially the "treat" part of trick-or-treating. But when children ring the doorbells, they have to tell jokes or riddles like, "Why didn't the skeleton cross the road? He didn't have the guts!" in order to get treats. In comparison, Halloween is the "trick" part of trick-or-treating, when stereotypical teenagers smash your intricately decorated pumpkins, TP your house, and egg your car.

Beggars' Night is generally scheduled by municipal governments on a date prior to October 31.

Fortunately for America, however, there are even weirder Halloween traditions elsewhere in the world - most of which involve protecting or nurturing the souls of deceased family and friends.

In some regions of Germany, people hide their knives on Halloween to avoid accidentally hurting the souls of deceased loved ones. Austrians have a similar tradition where they leave bread and water out overnight for the famished souls of returning dead relatives (and a lamp so they can see what they are eating).

Learn about other weird Halloween traditions like "Soul Caking" and turnip carving HERE.