Before coming to Ireland, I thought Ireland's only contribution to the holiday schedule was St. Patrick's Day. Last week however I learned that the Halloween is actually Irish.
What?
Yup. It is thought that Halloween derived from the Celtic Festival Samhain.
According to Wikipedia (which is never wrong), Samhain means roughly "summer's end." This festival celebrates the end of the "lighter half" of the year, and the beginning of the "darker half." From what I can understand, it involved lots of bonfires.
So where did all the creepy scary stuff come in? The ancient Celts believed that the border between this world and the Otherworld was thin on this day, allowing spirits to come through. Since one obviously needed to ward off evil spirits, they would wear costumes and masks and basically disguise themselves as evil spirits.
The pumpkin carving even has an origin in Samhain. In order to commemorate souls in purgatory, you would have candle lanterns curved from turnips. This evolved over the years into jack o'lanterns. (Emphasis on the O'lantern - I should have known it was Irish).
Trick or treating is thought to have Irish (and Scottish) origins. A practice called "guising" was popular in the 19th century where children went door to door in masks, offering entertainment (usually a ghost story or song) in return for food or coins.
In conclusion, be Irish - celebrate Halloween
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