An enormous creature with a skeletal face, rabbit ears, bedraggled hair, and two-foot-long fingernails claws its way through the medieval town of Trim in County Meath, Ireland. Crow-like figures, orb-wielding giants, and a hound with glowing green eyes trail behind it as fire spinners twirl their flaming hoops and masked percussionists bang on their drums. The supernatural figures are all different iterations of the púca (pronounced “pooka”), mischievous mythical creatures that return to the land of the living only one night a year.
That night is commonly called Samhain (pronounced “saw-in”), and it’s still celebrated in Ireland. Credited as the true origin of Halloween, Samhain is when the veil is thinnest between the physical world and a supernatural realm that Irish folklore expert Kelly Fitzgerald calls “the third space.” The Celts (and specifically the Gaels) considered this the time when the living could mingle with the otherworld, including the mythical púca.
Those who attend County Meath’s Púca Festival today will likely notice the similarities and differences between Halloween and Samhain. Here’s what to know about the celebration and other Samhain festivals you can attend today.
What is Samhain?
The ancient festival, historically held on the night of October 31, is a tribute of contrasts. It celebrates the narrow lines between light (summer) and dark (winter), physical and metaphysical, harvest time and the forthcoming frost. “Samhain” is the Gaelic word for November, the first month of winter on the old Gaelic calendar. The eponymous festival was a way for Gaels to commemorate the end of an arduous harvest. All berries must be picked by this deadline, or the púca will urinate on them.
According to Fitzgerald, who heads University College Dublin’s School of Irish, Celtic Studies and Folklore, the evening is technically called “Oíche Shamhna,” pronounced “ee-ha how-na” and translating to “the night before November.” But today, it’s better known as Samhain.
The first festival of this kind predates written records; ancient oral histories indicate that it took place more than 2,000 years ago in the same location where the Púca Festival is now held.
How did Samhain become Halloween?
Over time, under the influence of Christianity, the focus of the holiday has shifted from the supernatural to the departed. Christians eventually declared November 2 as “All Souls Day” to honor those who’ve died and November 1 as “All Saints Day” or “All Hallows” (meaning all holy). The night before then became “All Hallows Eve,” which was shortened to Halloween.
Halloween came to the United States in the mid-19th century, when more than a million Irish immigrated to America during the potato famine. By this time, concepts of death had fully supplanted the mythical púcas. “The otherworld—the supernatural—in Irish tradition is not the world of the dead. That is a separate world,” Fitzgerald says. “When you look at early Irish literature, the importance of mythological creatures and beings in the creation of Ireland is at the heart of understanding what Ireland is.”
Modern-day traditions in the European country still include hearty feasts, bonfires, and wearing púca-inspired disguises. This is where Halloween costumes come from. The púca can take many shapes, from a black horse to a monstrous goblin to a human with animalistic features.
Where to attend a Samhain festival today
The city of Derry in Northern Ireland throws the biggest Samhain festival today.
Photo by K. Mitch Hodge/Unsplash
Many of these forms can be seen at the Púca Festival, which spans four days. The event is packed with musical performances, acrobatics, pyrotechnics, art workshops, meditation sessions, heritage tours, and old Irish customs like divining. The highlight is the Púca Procession, where fantastical beings stalk the streets of Trim.
Although County Meath’s merrymaking is arguably the most historically accurate, the largest Samhain-inspired festival is in Northern Ireland. More than 100,000 international visitors attend Derry Halloween to immerse themselves in city-wide street theatrics featuring towering puppets, fire dancers, shrieking banshees, and more. Light installations, fireworks, and discos are contemporary takes on age-old rituals.
Samhain, like many Gaelic traditions, hopped the North Channel to infiltrate Scotland. The Scots still celebrate with the one-day Samhuinn Fire Festival—“Samhuinn” being the Scottish spelling—where hundreds of costumed people spill into the streets of Edinburgh drumming, dancing, and playing with fire.
Of course, the holiday has also spread across the Atlantic, so whether or not you travel to Europe this October, maybe you and other Americans can think of the ancient world when donning imaginative getups and frolicking through the streets under the Samhain moon.
