7 Fascinating Irish Halloween Traditions

Since Halloween originated in Ireland, there are many cool Irish Halloween traditions. The holiday comes from a traditional Celtic holiday called Samhain, which translates to “summer’s end”. The holiday marked the end of the harvest season and the beginning of the winter. They celebrated it on October 31st because they thought on this date, the gate between the mortal and spirit world opened, making it easy for the spirits to roam amongst humans. Take a look at some of these Irish Halloween traditions and comment below what modern Halloween traditions these remind you of.

Bonfires

The Celts believed that on October 31st, the door between the spirit and human world would open, allowing spirits to roam the Earth alongside humans. To protect themselves, people would light big bonfires to ward off evil spirits. Today, some people light off fireworks as well to keep the spirits at bay, and many cities actually have firework displays to celebrate the holiday! The firework tradition is also tied to the fact that Guy Fawkes day, another holiday celebrated with fireworks, is less than a week after Halloween.

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Costumes

In another defense against the evil spirits, people would wear scary costumes in order to confuse the spirits that were roaming around. People believed that if they were found, spirits would kidnap them or commit mischief towards them, so they would use a costume to hide from the spirits and their wrongdoings. The costumes were also pretty scary, since they were used as defense against evil, however they were not necessarily elaborate, a simple mask would do the trick! The Celts would dress as ghouls, banshees, witches, sprites, etc.

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Divination

Divination, or the practice of seeking knowledge of the future by supernatural means, is another one of the most popular Irish Halloween traditions. Since the Celts believed the barrier between the spirits and humans was at its thinnest point during Samhain, it was believed to be a powerful time to look into the future and make predictions. People would play divination games that would predict their future. For example, people would place an array of small objects, like a ring, a thimble, a piece of wood, a bean, etc., onto saucers, and then sit a blindfolded person in front of them. Whichever item the person picked would tell them about their future. For example a person who picked the ring would get married, the person who picked the bean would be poor, etc.

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Souling

“Souling” was the original trick-or-treating. Children and the poor would go from door to door around Halloween and sing songs, recite prayers, and tell jokes in exchange for food. The most popular food given to the original trick-or-treaters was called soulcake, a flattened bread mixed with fruit and spices that resembled something of a shortcake. This tradition emerged from a Samhain practice of leaving food out for the spirits as an offering. This Irish Halloween tradition is the reason why kids today have to say “trick-or-treat!” when going around their neighborhoods on Halloween night.

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Carving Turnips

While everyone knows about carving pumpkins for Halloween, the tradition started with the Celts carving turnips. It all comes back to the story of Stingy Jack. Jack was a blacksmith who invited the devil to a drink with him. Jack did not want to pay, so he convinced the Devil to turn himself into a coin to pay for their drinks. Jack then put the devil coin in his pocket next to a silver crucifix, trapping him. Jack agreed to let the devil out if and only if the devil agreed to leave him alone for 10 years. When Jack died, he was not let into heaven because he did not do any good during his life, and the devil would not go back on his promise, so he sent Jack on his way with a flame to light his way through the darkness of eternity. Jack gouged out a turnip to fashion a lantern for his flame, and the Irish did the same to keep Jack away from them. The Irish started using pumpkins when they emigrated to the United States, where turnips were harder to find.

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Bobbing for Apples

The Irish love a Halloween game, especially ones involving apples. They originated bobbing for apples, and it was actually a divination game originally. There were many different ways people would use bobbing for apples to tell the future, some would say the first person to get an apple would be the first to be married. Also, some said that if you got an apple on the first try, your love was strong, but if it took multiple times, your love would fizzle out. Others would bob for an apple, pick it up, cut off a long strand of skin with a knife and throw it behind their shoulder, whatever letter the skin would make would be the first initial of their future husband or wife.

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Another popular Irish Halloween game was Snap Apple. Hang up an apple by its stalk from a tree, washing line, or doorframe. The game is to try and finish the apple, without using your hands. The person who finishes the apple first, or fastest, wins.

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Colcannon for Dinner and Barmbrack for Dessert

Colcannon is a traditional Irish Halloween dish. When Samhain merged with the Christian All Hallows Eve, it turned into a day of fasting and avoiding meat, so Colcannon, which is made of potatoes and cabbage, became a Halloween specialty. It is also Irish Halloween tradition to hide gifts in the Colcannon. Some households hid coins to keep, and some hid similar fortune telling items to the divination games as before. For example, if you got a ring in your colcannon, you will be married soon, if you find a thimble, you will be a spinster.

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Another traditional Halloween dish is Barmbrack. This is a traditional “cake” that is basically a sweet bread with fruit in it. This treat also will have items baked into it, with similar future telling properties. You can buy cakes with items baked inside, or you can bake one yourself and customize the trinkets in your dish.

Barmbrack Recipe

These are some of the most popular Irish Halloween traditions. From future-predicting games to yummy foods to interesting myths and legends, Irish Halloween is very fun and pretty special. Do you practice any of these Irish Halloween traditions in your home? Or, do you practice any similar traditions? Let us know in the comments below!