Column: While mourning and joy are not two emotions that fit together, on Día de los Muertos we party with our dead. But this celebration of life in death could become another “Cinco de Mayo,” losing its homegrown significance.
In Mexico, Día de los Muertos honors the dead with music, dancing, food, and colorful skulls. Families gather in cemeteries, leaving gifts on graves to welcome the spirits believed to return to visit their loved ones. #HI6171#HalloweenInMexico#DiaDeLosMuertos 📸:theguardian.com
In the USA, Halloween is celebrated on October 31st with costumes, spooky decorations, and trick-or-treating. People carve pumpkins into jack-o’-lanterns, attend parties, visit haunted houses, and enjoy candy, scary movies, and festive parades. #HI6171#HalloweenInTheUsa 📸:eu.news-leader.com
Halloween became popular in America after 19th-century Irish and Scottish immigration, bringing their traditions and the custom of using a hollowed turnip lantern, which later evolved into modern Halloween celebrations. #HI6171#Halloween#Ireland#Scotland#NorthAmerica 📸:blogs.loc.gov
Halloween today is a fun, spooky celebration where people dress up in costumes, decorate homes with ghosts and pumpkins, and enjoy candy, parties, and scary movies. It‘s also associated with the supernatural and horror. #HI6171#PublicHistory#Halloween 📸: displate.com
Something spooky and historical? Come to King Johns Castle on October 17th for Samhain Tales by the fireside for storytelling with Daithi Collopy. Check out their Instagram for more information: @kingjohncastle 📸: kingjohncastle #HI6171#SamhainTales#KingJohnCastle#Halloween
Today, trick or treating means dressing up in costumes and going from house to house on October 31st, asking for candy or other treats by saying this phrase. #HI6171#PublicHistory#Halloween#TrickOrTreat#Candy 📸: emmauspa.gov
Trick-or-treating began with the medieval “souling” custom, when the poor sought food or money for prayers for the dead. In Scotland and Ireland, this evolved into “guising,” where people dressed up and performed for treats on Halloween. #HI6171#TrickOrTreat#Halloween 📸: smithsonianmag.com
Halloween was once focused on romance rather than scares — a night filled with fortune-telling games and rituals that helped single women predict or find their future husbands. Read more about these traditions here: www.womansday.com#HI6171#PublicHistory#Halloween 📸: womandsday.com
During the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, large bonfires were lit to scare away evil spirits, mark the year's end, and protect families. These flames also rekindled home fires and brought communities together for feasting and fortune-telling. #HI6171#Bonfire 📸: visithendersonvillenc.org
King John’s Castle is doing various Halloween workshops this year, and they just added more art workshops, like pumpkin painting or mask-making workshops. Check out their Instagram for more information: @kingjohncastle 📸: @kingjohncastle #HI6171#PumpkinPainting#MaskMaking#KingJohnCastle
If you don't have a costume yet and you are looking for something traditional Celtic myth inspired, check out: irishmyths.com/2022/10/17/c...#HI6171#PublicHistory#HalloweenCostumes#CelticMythInspiredCostumes 📸:irishmyths.com
What customs are appropriate in terms of cultural misappropriation? Check out this article about how to be respectful during Halloween: eighthgeneration.com/blogs/blog/h...#HI6171#CultureIsNotACostume 📸: twulasso.com
The tradition of wearing Halloween costumes probably originated from an ancient Celtic festival on October 31, when people dressed up in costumes to protect themselves from evil spirits as winter approached. #HI6171#PublicHistory#HalloweenCostumes 📸: moneymentors.ca
A jack-o'-lantern is a carved pumpkin or root vegetable linked to Halloween. Its name originates from eerie bog lights called will-o’-the-wisps and the Irish tale of Stingy Jack, cursed to wander with a glowing turnip lantern. #HI6171#JackO’Lantern#Halloween 📸: svgcuts.com
From October 24th until November 2nd, the National Famine Museum is hosting various Samhain tours to discover the customs and traditions of Samhain / Halloween. Check out their Instagram site and book your tickets: @strokestownpark 📸:@strokestownpark #HI6171#Samhain#TheNationalFamineMuseum
The name “Halloween” is a shortened form of All Hallows’ Eve, the night before All Hallows’ Day (All Saints’ Day), a Christian holiday celebrated on November 1st. #HI6171#PublicHistory#AllHallows’Eve#AllHallows’Day#Halloween 📸: fg-a.com
Samhain, an ancient Celtic festival on November 1, marked when the veil between gods and humans thinned. It was a mysterious, perilous time when deities mingled with mortals, causing fear and strange supernatural happenings. #HI6171#PublicHistory#Samhain 📸: @britannica.com
This week's theme will be about the ‘History of Halloween’. I will be going back to the roots of this holiday, as well as comparing different Halloween traditions nowadays in various countries. I am excited to hear your thoughts on it. #HI6171#PublicHistory#Halloween 📸: @heidihistory.bsky.social
Hi everyone, my name is Heidemarie Rossak, I am 25 years old, living in Austria. I am excited to announce that I will be taking over the UL History account for this week. I'm currently doing my master’s in Public History and Cultural Heritage. #HI6171#PublicHistory 📸:heidihistory.bsky.social
If you'd like to know more about her new book, Dr Leanne Calvert will be part of a panel discussion, ‘Women, Struggle and Resilience’, taking place at @ria.ie on 6 November as part of this year's Dublin Book Festival.
Liam Mellows and the Irish Revolution with Ruan O’Donnell Wed 8th Oct, 7pm Seminal account of Liam Mellows’ political life and revolutionary role, this new edition is the first corrected version and incorporates revisions noted by Greaves Register: docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...
Four Courts Press invite you to the launch of Building Mitchelstown 1779-1830 by David A. Fleming at 7.00 pm on Friday 17 October 2025. You can purchase a copy of the book on the link below: www.fourcourtspress.ie/books/2025/b...
This week, students of @historiankarol.bsky.social elective History module 'The Irish country house: class, gender, and culture' visited the 'big house' on campus, Plassey House. They were given a tour by Rachel Beck, a doctoral candidate in History, whose research concerns the Russell family.
