Celluloid Diaries: Halloween in Ireland - Bonfires, bus tours and Halloween parades

Monday, October 1, 2012

Halloween in Ireland - Bonfires, bus tours and Halloween parades

Halloween in Ireland

Below is a guest post I did for Bending The Spine. Enjoy!

With the day of the dead approaching, now is the time to decide where to spend Halloween. What better place to celebrate than Ireland which has a 2000-year-old Halloween tradition.

Bonfires

In Pagan times, the Halloween celebrations were at its wildest with the druids sacrificing and burning victims. Tradition has it that these sacrificial bonfires had to prevent the dead from crawling out of their graves. Bonfires are now a huge part of the Halloween festivities in Ireland and are lit in both rural areas and towns throughout the country.

One of the best places to watch those bonfires is in the medieval town of Athboy where the underworld and our world are supposedly closest together. On Halloween’s Eve, the inhabitants make a tour with burning torches from Athboy to the top of Tlachtga. The tour ends with a traditional Celtic feast in an Iron Age Fort overlooking the town.

Halloween Parades and Halloween Carnivals

The biggest Halloween parade in Ireland is Derry's Banks of the Foyle Halloween Carnival. While live music and performances take place, more than 30.000 people walk with candlelight toward the River Foyle. The night ends with a spectacular fireworks display lightning up the night sky over the river.

A similar event is the Dublin Halloween Parade, a display of performers, dancers, monsters, giants, ghosts, goblins and witches that ends in extravagant fireworks.

Halloween Bus Tour

If you like it spooky, you might want to try Dublin’s Halloween Night Bus Tour. The bus drives you through the city’s dark, unknown streets and a live storyteller will tell you all about Dublin’s sinister past and legends. It’s a popular attraction, so book in advance.

Halloween Accommodation

Ireland is known for its accommodation offering entertaining and educational Halloween programs for kids:

In the atmospheric Causey Farm, nearby Dublin, children can listen to old Celtic stories, learn to drive a broomstick and much more.

The Clontarf Castle Hotel in Dublin celebrates Halloween by organizing a world championship for vampires.

And the Headfort Arms Hotel, located on a one hour drive from Dublin has Halloween films for kids and other fun activities on the program.

Couples without children might want to stay at the Dunboyne Castle & Spa where you are a participant in a murder story. Or you could taste Prosecco and Halloween chocolates at Castle Leslie Estate.

Irish Halloween Food

You may also try the Halloween foods that Ireland is famous for: Colcannon (dish with potatoes, cabbage, onions, butter, milk, salt and pepper) and Barnbrack Cake (fruit cake hiding objects such as a ring, a tissue and a coin).

96 comments:

  1. hi Vanessa!

    shared and tweeted about the freebie and this blog post! thanks for the giveaway as well! here are the links:

    https://twitter.com/aobibliophile/status/252661705241399296

    https://www.facebook.com/groups/293618244055941/permalink/356633467754418/

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    ReplyDelete
  2. I tweeted it!

    https://twitter.com/bedsidelight/status/252666632646848512

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  3. Very interesting post. I learned a lot. Can't wait to read your story either. Great idea for the giveaway too. Erin

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  4. I would go for the Halloween parade in Athboy. Never heard of Colcannon and Barnbrack cake before.

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  5. Halloween in Ireland sounds perfect! Wish I had the money for it..

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  6. Tweeted: https://twitter.com/MindingSpot/status/252784633421369344

    Thanks!

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  8. Shared giveaway:

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  9. Really interesting post I enjoyed reading it.
    Hi im a new follower from the hop I hope you will come visit me if you have time
    www.jollyjillys.blogspot.com

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  10. Bonfires are indeed a great evening out.

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  11. OH MY! I will not talk about Ireland, as I feel so bad as I am stuck here with my books. Damn, damn, damn!

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  12. Thank you for sharing:) looks and sounds great, can't wait to get started with it:)
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  15. The bus tour sounds fantastic!

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  24. Tweeted.
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  25. Really enjoyed reading this post about Halloween in Ireland. Coming from Celtic origins...an Ireland trip is tops on my bucket list! And how fab would it be to go during Halloween?!! Gotta do this soon! Have a happy halloween month ahead! :o)

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  26. Aron Martines ValdezOctober 2, 2012 at 11:18 AM

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  28. awesome halloween treat!!

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  39. Interesting post...I've made Barnbrack but still want to try Colcannon. Visiting from Kathe with an e. :)

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  40. algo que me he preguntado es que cuantos aƱos tienes vanessa,dimelo por favor

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  41. Hello Vanessa! Found you at the Follow Me Wednesday Blog Hop. You have a really nice blog, liked it a lot so I'm following ^^
    Hope you can make some time to visit my blog too and have a look around. Have a great day xx
    N O I R E D A M E

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  42. Hi Vanessa - I'm a new reader of yours, just bought The Strangers Outside. :)

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  43. tweet
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  45. This is really fun. Thank you for sharing with us.

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  55. Loving the sound of the Halloween Carnival which we could the there for that. Thanks for popping over to our weekly book blog hop this week xx

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  71. I tweeted!
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  72. Really wish we had some of those educational Halloween experiences for kids in my area. Thanks for sharing at Mom's Library!

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  87. Nice post, Ireland does sound cool, one of the few places Id go to overseas
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