I've emailed you two handouts I got in classes at some point with some of the terminology and activities.

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Thank you for all this information. I find it so fascinating to see the different seasons and calendars. It helps make sense of other historical information I find, to know when the important celebrations were held.
We never celebrated Halloween in Australia when I was young, it is only a recent development picked up from American TV I think. We did have bonfires, but that was always on the Queens Birthday holiday weekend in June - we called it "cracker-night" because in those days we were allowed to buy fire crackers and let them off on that night to celebrate.
I had no idea that halloween actually began with the Irish New Year. All those things that I thought were American are actually from Ireland. I think it is a great compliment that the wonderful Pagan celebrations have been adopted, even if not recognised as such.
Does anyone know how the pumpkins come into, it or is that an American variation?

I remember reading somewhere that this "trick or treat" thing originated from the tradition of placing good food outside your door and letting the spirits or underworld creatures (originally the Tuath Dé Danann/ Aes Síd) eat it. Supposedly if you didn't do this then the creatures would play tricks on you.

For a regional flavour or difference here's a nós that was practiced in An Rinn until 40 years ago called: "The Night of the Horn" or "Oidhche na hadhairce". Discussed by Paddy Breathnach on Comhrá:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G00TIhTz7C0

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

Hi Rosemary welcome to the forum,

originally in Ireland and Scotland the pumpkin would have been a turnip or potato or cabbage (Scotland only), whereas, in England they were carved from beets. The "jack-o'-lantern" emerged from the Irish folktale of "stingy jack", like all folktales it has many regional variations:

From wikipedia, scroll down to tradition and folklore:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack-o'-lantern

And from the History Chanel:

http://www.history.com/topics/jack-olantern-history

The tale and tradition was brought to America, by Irish, Scottish and English emigrants, and there it was reinvented, like much of the other stuff associated with Hollowe'en. Its much easier to carve a pumpkin than it is a turnip or potato. .

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Please wait for corrections/ more input from other forum members before acting on advice

Is breá liom an clár sin "Comhrá".

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WARNING: Intermediate speaker - await further opinions, corrections and adjustments before acting on my advice.
My "specialty" is Connemara Irish, particularly Cois Fhairrge dialect.
Is fearr Gaeilge ḃriste ná Béarla cliste, cinnte, aċ i ḃfad níos fearr aríst í Gaeilge ḃinn ḃeo na nGaeltaċtaí.
Gaeilge Chonnacht (GC), go háraid Gaeilge Chois Fhairrge (GCF), agus Gaeilge an Chaighdeáin Oifigiúil (CO).

This is off topic but I remember my mother used to carve a cross into a raw patato for Ash Wednesday. Then dip it in the blessed ashes. My Da would bring home ashes from Mass in a matchbox.

Sorry go back to Halloween.

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It is recommended that you always wait for three to agree on a translation.
I speak Connemara Irish, and my input will often reflect that.
I will do an mp3 file on request for short translations.
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I haven't received them...did you use Audrey_Nickel(a)yahoo.com?

Thanks, btw!

Redwolf

Yes, I did. I just resent them, in any case. It seemed to go through and it's coming from my Yahoo address, so Yahoo ought to know whether it went through. Maybe I got put in your spam folder!

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I'm not a native (or entirely fluent) speaker, so be sure to wait for confirmations/corrections, especially for tattoos.

Thanks An Cionnfhaolach, for the info and links
I looked at the Oral history about the Night of the Horns also. What a great story, certainly had me giggling thinking about all the poor cursed housewives, what cheeky boys.

This is a good thread. Halloween was my mum's birthday and she threw a party every Halloween and did all the cooking ! Being a big family, 13 of us, with our kids and spouses it became a local legend. Yes we did all the stuff mentioned earlier but we had a special game when we were younger. Mum put 3ds, sixpences and shillings in her pies and it was really exciting chomping away at the grub expecting a bonus. But the best laugh was the next day when you recovered the money from the toilet. I kid you not ! You were 'proper hard' if you could swallow the coins and then bring them into school as a trophy.