Halloween is a big festival in Ireland which is hardly surprising as it originated here and was taken over to America by Irish and Scottish emigrants.
Oiche Samhain was a Celtic festival which marked the beginning of winter and it was later married to the Christian ceremonies of All Souls Night and All Saints Day.
Irish traditions included bobbing for apples, fortune telling, lighting bonfires, telling ghost stories and playing tricks or pranks.
Barm brack (a tea loaf) and colcannon (mashed potatoes with kale and spring onions) were traditional fare for Halloween, not pumpkin pie! Trinkets such as rings and coins were put in the barm brack signifying the coming year's fortunes for the recipient - if you got a ring you would get married while getting a piece of cloth spelt poverty.
I went to a nearby pub, Fitzpatricks, as they always have a most impressive outdoor display for Halloween, before returning to Bellurgan Park to get some more photos of their Spookfest for my gallery which I've completed
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