From earliest recorded history in Ireland, Halloween (All Hallows Eve), or Oíche

From earliest recorded history in Ireland,
Halloween (All Hallows Eve), or Oíche
Shamhna was considered a turning point in
the calendar.
Samhain (November 1st), meant the start of
winter, when cattle were brought down from
summer pastures, tributes and rents paid, and
other business contracted.
Samhain, marks the close of the season of light
and the beginning of the dark half of the year,
and was therefore perceived as a liminal
moment in time when movement between the
otherworld and this world was possible.

The fairies be out that night and they would take
you away with them if you were out at that evil
time. It is also said that the devil shakes his
budges [fur] on the haws and turns them black
and according to the old people if you eat a
haw after Hallow Eve night you will have no luck
(Carndonagh, Donegal)
It is said that the souls in Purgatory are released to
visit their still mortal friends. Long ago the country folk
before they retired to bed on this night always
prepared a blazing fire and a well swept hearth to
welcome their unearthly visitors (Manorhamilton,
Leitrim)


Tales and legends of the
returning dead, and the
intrusion of supernatural
beings into this world, were
once plentiful. In his book
Irish Folk Lore (1870), the
writer ‘Lageniensis’ noted: ‘It
is considered that, on All
Hallows’ Eve, hobgoblins, evil
spirits, and fairies, hold high
revel, and that they are
travelling abroad in great
numbers.
The dark and sullen Phooka
[Púca] is then particularly
mischievousness and many
mortals are abducted to
fairy land. Those persons
taken away to the raths are
often seen at this time by
their living friends, and
usually accompanying a
fairy cavalcade."


The custom of dressing in grotesque
costumes and making house visits to
request small presents – fruit, sweets, and
money – is traditionally dominant in the
eastern half of Ireland.


The custom of Halloween ‘guising’
remains strong, and in recent times has
been boosted by the popularity of the
horror movie genre in the USA. Irish children
now go out to ‘trick or treat’, where
previously the refrain ‘help the Hallowe’en
party’ was most usual.

On Hallowe’en night the boys dress up like

old men. Some of them dress up like old

hags. They put on long trousers, women’s

hats and soot on their faces and more of

them have false faces. They go around

from house to house and they are invited

in and given something and the

ringleader sings songs and plays tunes on

the mouth organ and melodion. Then they

get apples and nuts and sometimes

money (Clonshagh, Dublin)

A favourite form of activity for young
people at this critical moment in time
was to attempt to divine future events
in a variety of different ways: would they
become rich (or destitute), would they
marry soon, and so on.
They get three saucers and they put a
ring in one saucer, clay in the other and
water in the third. Then they put a cloth
on some person’s eyes. If he puts his
hand into the saucer with the ring in it he
will be the first to be married.
If he puts his hand into the saucer with
the clay in it he will die soon. If he puts his
hands into the saucer with the water in it
he will cross the water to a foreign land
(Massbrook, Mayo)


In popular tradition Hallowe’en is
a time for feasting and
merrymaking. For rural
communities especially, the tasks
of housing the livestock,
harvesting and storing produce,
picking and preserving fruits etc.
should be completed by this time.
Feasting on fruits and rich foods
represented an appropriate
climax to the season. Festive
foods included colcannon, also
known as stampy or pandy, sweet
cake, fruits and nuts.
A variety of games were
played, such as ‘dipping’ in a
tub of water for coins, ‘snapping’
for apples and other amusements

Another custom the people were fond of doing was to leave
nine ivy leaves under a girl’s pillow at night and she was to
say the following words:
Those nine ivy leaves I place under my head to dream of the
living and not of the dead
To dream of the man I am going to wed, and to see him
tonight at the foot of my bed (Tynagh, Galway)
A bucket is put on the ground and each player goes around
the bucket as quickly as possible ten times. Then he tries to
catch, without falling, the apple hanging from the roof
(Killorglin, Kerry)
We get a big basin of water and start to duck for apples. We
get nuts and roast them in the fire. Then a knock comes to
the door and the púca boys come in. They dance around
the floor and sing songs (Clongorey, Kildare)



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