Do you know the spook-tacular origins of Halloween?👻
Read on if you dare to find out more 🎃
Did you know Halloween originated on the island of Ireland? If not, read
on and find out some ghoulish facts about the celebration!
What’s in a name?
In the Irish language (Gaeilge) we call the night of the 31st October
the night of souls Oíche Shamhna(pronounced e-ha how-na). It’s also known as and referred
to as Samhain(pronounced sow hen) and for us the
whole month of November is named after it, Mí na Shamhna(month of souls). The 31st October marks a time when the
world of the dead is closest to the living and sometimes something
spooky escapes into the realm of the living….
One of the iconic images of Halloween now is the Jack O Lantern 🎃 (the
name comes from a man named Jack who tried to trick the devil –
full story here). Originally in Ireland we carved turnips but when many emigrated to
the USA (mainly due to famine in Ireland, by the end we went from a
population of 8million to around 4million) they found that the native
pumpkins were good for carving and so the tradition evolved. Here is an
example to show you just how terrifying these things originally were vs.
the cuddly friendly pumpkins from the States!
Devilishly Tasty
And speaking of food, this time eating and not carving, for our "treat"
#trickortreat we will have Barmbrack in Ireland. Brack is a
fruit cake but at Halloween we add a little something special to the
batter - a ring. Once baked whoever finds the ring in their slice of
cake is set to get married within a year!
Celebrations with a bang!
In Ireland it's traditional to have a bonfire, in Gaeilge
tine cnámh(pronounced tee-na kuh-nov) and the
name literally translates as “bone fire”. The fire 🔥 got it’s name because we would literally burn bones 🦴
and then spread the ashes next day on the lands as fertiliser…. Our
other favourite thing to do is let off fireworks ✨ to celebrate
Halloween. They're illegal, but most just cross the border to Northern
Ireland (where they are legal) and bring them back to the Republic and
then have themselves a literal blast!
Looking a fright
So why the costumes? That's an American thing right? Well actually that
is also a Celtic tradition. The idea was if you dressed as a spirit you
would confuse the evil beings and thus be safe from being kidnapped by
them. Not sure what costume to wear this year? Click below to find out!
