HALLOWEEN

H-A-double L- O- W- double E- N, spells Halloween!

Did you know that the traditions of Halloween started in Ireland? Of course, it is a "celebration" of All Hallow's Eve, that began in Ireland around 100 AD. Traditionally, this day marked the ending of the summer in Celtic pagan holidays. It was thought that at this time of the year the spirit world and the universe we reside in were close together, which enabled the dead to return again to our realm. (http://www.ireland-information.com/articles/irishhalloweentraditions.htm)

The pumpkin and the costumes come from traditions that began in Ireland. The Jack-O'-Lantern is supposed to represent Jack the blacksmith, who made a deal with the Devil and was denied entry into the afterlife. He then asked the Devil for a light to light his way, which he was granted. The Irish first represented this with the turnip root, but when Irish Americans immigrated to the States, turnips were harder to come by then pumpkins, and pumpkins soon replaced them. The costumes were worn to trick the spirits into thinking that Druid wandering through the night were one of them. This way the Druid could avoid capture or hurt from the spirits. (http://www.ireland-information.com/articles/irishhalloweentraditions.htm)

Even though the traditions are based in in Ireland, some Irish hold some disdain for the Americanization of the holiday. Were costumes were traditionally homemade, once the holiday was Americanized, the holiday became yet another economic holiday.

For the holiday this year, I was in Galway. many people my age in Ireland head to Galway City for the Bank Holiday (a three-day weekend) to celebrate and party with there friends on the streets of Galway. This, I think is because Galway city has the reputation of being somewhat of a night city, as the University of Galway is right nearby and many of the students are in town a lot of the time. People come from Dublin and Cork to celebrate the holiday.

Stephanie, a employee at the Sleepzone where I was staying organized an unofficial holiday pub crawl complete with costumes and face paint. Even with my lack of costume options and limited budget, I was able to come up with a airplane stewardess costume (something I thought was appropriate to represent my travelling self). There was a group of people out on the pub crawl but I only socialized with a couple (Stephanie- originally from LA, but lived in Cork for 12 years, Morgan- from France, Jenny- another employee at Sleepzone, and a couple of others). It was fun, and now I'll always be able to say that I celebrated Halloween where it started, in the north of Ireland!