The world loves to scare itself silly at Halloween, and no more so than in Ireland, the place where it all began. Halloween is massive in Ireland, and with customs that date back thousands of years there is no better place to be at the most unearthly time of year.
With just a couple of months to go, anticipation for the traditions, the costumes, the feasting, the decorations and the tricks and the treat treats is rising – and now Ireland’s Halloween festivals are beginning to get ready to cast their spell once more.
Regarded as the finest Halloween festival in Europe, a scare-fest like no other awaits in the Walled City of Derry~Londonderry in Northern Ireland, where plans are afoot to create an enchanting world of illusion and wonder.
Derry Halloween 2021 will take place from Friday 29 October to Sunday 31 October under the theme of ‘Awakening the Walled City’ with the festival creating a series of ‘spirit worlds’ in locations across the city.
They will include a ‘Forest of Shadows’ zone in St Columb’s Park featuring the Phantom Queen Morrigan, a fierce and beautiful goddess welcoming all to her court with dancing flames of fire, and A ‘City of Bones’ animated aerial installation which will fill the city-centre night sky alongside a backdrop of the chilling laments of banshees lurking at each of the city gates.
For the first time Derry~Londonderry’s celebrations will also be extended into County Donegal, with special events being planned for Swan Park in Buncrana and the ancient site of Grianán of Aileach, a spectacular stone-built ring fort which was once the seat of the High Kings O'Neill.
There will also be food trails, tours, live music, a funfair, fireworks and much, much more. The festival will be organised on crowd-friendly circuit that can accommodate considerable footfall and social distancing, enabling festival-goers to enjoy a huge variety of themed locations and experiences safely and at their leisure.
Halloween is Ireland’s most ancient festival, originating in the ancient Irish and Celtic tradition of ‘Samhain’, which is the old Irish for ‘summer’s end’. Samhain marked the end of the harvest season and the start of the ‘New Year’. It was the last great gathering before winter, a celebration of the Celtic New Year which involved lighting fires, feasting on the crops of the harvest, music, gathering and storytelling.
Rooted in this ancient tradition,
Púca Festival (29 – 31 October), named after a shape-shifting spirit from Celtic folklore, also makes a welcome return this year to celebrate Ireland as the birthplace of Halloween. Púca is a spectacular, fun and otherworldly festival, offering three nights of music, fire, feasting and mischief.
Centred in Ireland’s Ancient East, in counties Meath and Louth, Púca remembers the traditions and the spirit of Samhain by reopening the pathways of reflection and celebration carved by travellers at Halloween over 2,000 years ago.
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