Irish Halloween

Mysterious rites aimed at foretelling the future were popular at Hallowe'en . One custom was to get each member of the family to put an ivy leaf without spot or stain into a glass of water overnight.

In the morning, if the leaf is still spotless, the person is assured of life for another 12 months but if the leaf has any spots on it, the person who put it in water will surely die within the year.

Another custom in the Mourne mountains was to fill a thimble full of salt and turn it upside down on a plate. Stacks of salt were made for each person in the house and if the next morning, your stack of salt had collapsed - you've guessed it - you were not expected to live for another year. A marriage divination practiced at Hallowe'en was to drop nail and hair cuttings into the last embers of the fire as a powerful charm to induce a dream of a future spouse.

Samhain was a fire festival and Hallowe'en celebrations in Ireland now usually involve lighting a bonfire but this is not to be confused with the Guy Fawkes bonfire tradition in Britain . On November 5, effigies of scheming Fawkes who planned to blow up the British Parliament with gunpowder are set on fire around the country to roars of 'Let 'im fry'.

In Ireland, Oiche Shamhna is as popular as Christmas and birthdays in some houses and children affectionately call it puca night and in parts of counties Cork and Limerick , it is known as snap apple night.

Crab apples are suspended at the end of a long string from the ceiling and with hands ties behind their backs, youngsters chase the swinging apple with their open mouths and the first one to get a grip of it with their teeth is the winner. A variation of snap apple is ducking for apples in a basin of water.

The fruity barnbrack (bairin breac in gaelic) concealed a range of tokens ….a ring means marriage, the button suggests bachelorhood and the thimble means spinsterhood for the superstititous diner. Even the poorest families would have something special for dinner on October 31 . Similar to other festivals, better off neighbours would make presents of milk, butter and other basic foodstuffs. Hallowe'en was a favourite time for eating Stampy cakes made from a blend of grated raw potato and flour flavoured with sugar, carawayseeds and cream and another variation was boxty, made with mashed potato.

While popular in the U.S., pumpkins are a new addition to the Hallowe'en party scene in Ireland .They are used widely like turnips as Jack O'Lanterns, filled with candles but the contents of the squash scooped out are rarely used to make pumpkin pies, a little known delicacy in Ireland.

           
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