Irish Halloween Traditions

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Irish Halloween Traditions

Did you know that Halloween is more of an Irish holiday than St. Patrick’s Day? St. Patrick was not Irish, and our modern festivities were invented by Irish Americans, but Halloween evolved from Irish celebrations and mythology dating back over 2,000 years. The ancient Celts celebrated a festival called Samhain (pronounced sow-en) which means “summers end” – it marked the beginning of winter and the start of a brand new year between the nights of October 31st and November 1st. This holiday was seen as a special border between light and dark, life and death, and spirits were said to be able to visit the realm of the living during this time. Elaborate costumes were worn (to scare away evil spirits) dances, feasts and ritual bonfires were held to celebrate.

The tradition of “trick-or-treating” may have roots in Ireland when peasants visited homes for coins, cheese, sweets and bread for festival days. The Irish even invented our modern Jack-O-Lantern with the myth of Stingy Jack. Stingy Jack was so stingy and tight-fisted that he didn’t want to pay for his drinks in pubs. Instead, his convinced his friend the Devil to transform into a coin so that they could pay for drinks with the coin, fooling bar keepers. The trick was on the Devil though, because when he transformed himself into a coin, Stingy Jack kept the Devil in a special pocket lined with a cross so that he could not escape. Stingy Jack made the Devil promise that if he let him go, he’d be free from the Devil for a year. Another time, Stingy Jack tricked the Devil into climbing a fruit tree he’d carved a cross upon so the Devil was trapped yet again. This time Jack demanded that the Devil leave him alone for 10 years and that should he die in that time period, the Devil could not have his soul.

At long last, many years later, when Jack eventually died of old age, Heaven refused him entrance for his dishonest ways and because he’d tricked the Devil so often, Hell would not have him either. Jack was cursed to roam the Earth forever with only a burning piece of coal which he put in a hollowed-out turnip. The turnip became his lantern and he became Jack O’ The Lantern or Jack-O-Lantern. Irish and British people used potatoes and turnips for lanterns to ward away malevolent spirits like Jack and in America, hollow pumpkins became an ideal replacement for turnips.

Another old custom in Ireland and other parts of the world held that on Halloween special divination games could be played and fortunes could be read for the coming year – especially those relating to love! To this day, many people use Halloween as a time to connect with the world beyond, to think of loved ones and to gain focus and insight into the path ahead.

So interesting! I need to line all of my pockets with crosses, lol.

Very cool legend. Thanks for sharing it!