wash your language

  • All Posts
  • Publications
  • Services
  • Contact
You are here: Home / Family / At Last, Our First Halloween in Ireland

At Last, Our First Halloween in Ireland

October 28, 2019 by EmmaP Leave a Comment

This will be the first time my daughters will be celebrating Halloween in Ireland as we’re not going away for the mid-term break. I don’t know what to expect from this celebration, though I’m sure it won’t be the same as when I was young, the mystical memories of which I carried around with me during my many years of living (and parenting) abroad.

For years I’ve been telling our two girls: “ah well an Irish Halloween is the real thing, it’s all genuine there, spooky and authentic. The bangers and the bonfires can be a bit annoying but it’s all good fun with real meaning”. But has it all become commercial and over the top, as I’ve been hearing from friends and colleagues? Or is that unique Samhain spirit, which never really translated abroad, still something a child can feel in Ireland?

Our daughters grew up in Italy and Norway two countries which, like other European nations, are still catching up to celebrating Halloween. It’s seen as another American holiday, one that’s quite like Carnival season (celebrated at the beginning of Lent) but really quite foreign and plainly just an opportunity for kids to dress up with ever-grosser face makeup and expect free sweets from disgruntled neighbours.

But our girls did get a nice taste of an Irish Halloween when they were very little in Norway. The ever-resourceful local Irish mammies of Oslo organised a party in a church hall each Halloween year where apples-on-a-string and other fun and games helped give the local half-Irish kids a blast of their ancient (non-Viking) heritage. One year, I even put in the considerable effort to make a barmbrack from scratch, just to get free entrance to the party.

READ MORE AT THE IRISH TIMES

Filed Under: Family, Irish, Moving to Ireland

Recent posts

  • The Covid 5 and Me April 9, 2021
  • The Lift in Rome March 10, 2021
  • The Lice of my Life January 17, 2021

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

A Blog and More

I write about language and the quirks of our family life in Dublin and previously in Italy and Norway. Read More…

RSS
Facebook
Facebook
fb-share-icon
Twitter
Visit Us
Tweet
Instagram

Instagram

Plane trees Plane trees
The number 5 has secretly been defining my life fo The number 5 has secretly been defining my life for the last year. Here's the story, on the blog (link in bio)
-------
For the last few months of this pandemic, my world has been shrunk to 5 kilometres. It’s not just me, it’s been the case since Christmas for everyone in Ireland. (In theory, at least). Now that our Covid radius is going to expand beyond 5km after April 12, I’ve realised the number 5 has actually defined my life in many ways.  There are 5 of us at home. Four humans and one dog. That’s 5 living beings, each of whom needs to be fed, clothed, cleaned, exercised, entertained, and kept in line....  Keep reading at https://washyourlanguage.com/the-covid-5-and-me/
Blossoms in the park Blossoms in the park
Load More…
Please enter the Page ID of the Facebook feed you'd like to display. You can do this in either the Custom Facebook Feed plugin settings or in the shortcode itself. For example, [custom-facebook-feed id=YOUR_PAGE_ID_HERE].

Facebook

Wash my language?

Språkvask is the Norwegian word for proofing text. Literally it means “language wash”; a more poetic way of saying it!

Blog comments

  • EmmaP on First Swim in the Sea – in November
  • Rosemary on First Swim in the Sea – in November
  • EmmaP on First Swim in the Sea – in November

© 2021 · Handcrafted with d by 2 Pups Design Co.