Halloween originated in Ireland as an ancient Celtic festival known as Samhain, which was celebration of the end of the harvest season, it is still sometimes referred to as Celtic New Year. The Celts believed that on October 31 the boundary in the middle of the living and the dead was dissolved, the dead walked the earth causing sickness and damaging crops. They Celts would light bonfires to ward off evil spirits, they would also don masks and costumes to mimic the spirits in an endeavor to placate them. To this day, citizen in Ireland dress up as creatures from the underworld. There are also other traditions which have industrialized and evolved over the years, including:
Colcannon - This is the dish that is traditionally cooked for dinner on Halloween night. It contains potatoes, cabbage and onion.
Halloween
Barmbrack - This is the former cake for Halloween. It is a fruit bread The Halloween Brack traditionally contains various objects baked into the bread. Each member of the family is given a slice, in the barmbrack are settled a pea, a stick, a piece of cloth, a small coin and a ring. Each item, when received in the slice, is supposed to carry a meaning to the man concerned: the pea, the man would not marry that year; the stick, "to beat one's wife with", would have an unhappy marriage or continually be in disputes; the cloth or rag, would have bad luck or be poor; the coin, would enjoy good fortune or be rich; and the ring, would be married within the year
The Ivy Leaf- Each member of the family places a exquisite ivy leaf into a cup of water and it is then left undisturbed overnight. If, in the morning, a leaf is still exquisite and has not industrialized any spots then the man who settled the leaf in the cup can be sure of 12 months condition until the following Halloween
Jack O'Lanterns - The legend relates that a young blacksmith made a pact with the devil, he was denied entry into Heaven and was condemned to roam the roads of Ireland. He was allowed to carry a burning ember which he settled inside a gouged out turnip. citizen hung turnips in the windows of their homes to ward off evil spirits. When the Irish arrived in America they prolonged the tradition but because of the scarcity of turnips they used pumpkins instead.
Halloween Games - Games are often played, such as bobbing for apples, where apples, peanuts and other nuts and fruit and some small coins are settled in a basin of water. The apples and nuts float, but the coins, which sink, are harder to catch. Every person takes turns catching as many items inherent using only their mouths. In some households, the coins are embedded in the fruit for the children to "earn" as they catch each apple. Another common game involves the hands-free eating of an apple hung on a string attached to the ceiling
Happy Halloween!
Celebrating Halloween in Ireland
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