Analysis: beyond spooky costumes and carved pumpkins, Halloween carries an ancient legacy rooted in fear, folklore and the unknown
As the days grow shorter and the air turns crisp, the excitement of Halloween creeps in like a playful shadow. Pumpkins appear on doorsteps, eerie decorations emerge from the attic, online content is dominated by Halloween crafting and the thrill of the spooky season takes hold. It's that magical time of year when we embrace the strange, delight in a good scare, and let our imaginations run wild.
But behind the costumes and the abundance of sweets, Halloween carries an ancient legacy rooted in fear and folklore, one that has shaped our fascination with the supernatural for centuries. Samhain is one of the four major quarter days of the ancient Celtic calendar. It marks the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter, or the end of the light half and the beginning of the dark half of the year. Celebrated on October 31st, it was a time when the veil between the physical world and the Otherworld was thin, allowing spirits and supernatural beings to roam freely among the living.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Brainstorm, the Oweynagat cave in Co Roscommon is linked to many colourful tales in Irish folklore, especially around this time of year
This liminal period was both dreaded and revered and people took precautions to protect themselves, making it a time for ritual. Bonfires were lit to ward off evil, and disguises were worn to confuse the wandering supernatural visitors from the otherworld, offerings of food were left out to appease the dead, faces were carved in turnips to ward off evil spirits and divination was rife. These rituals were more than simple superstitions; they reflected a profound human desire to confront and control forces beyond comprehension, namely death, the supernatural and the unknown.
The shift from the fruitful harvest season to the stark and deadly winter was a time of great anxiety. Darkness encroached, and the land seemed to retreat into dormancy. For many, survival was never guaranteed, making death and the afterlife constant, looming concerns. Through ghost stories and horror, the people of this era found a way to confront these uncertainties. By embedding their fears in tales of spirits and supernatural entities, people could manage the unknown through ritual and belief, placing human anxiety into a structure they could better understand.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Radio 1's Brendan O'Connor Show, pagan high priestess Deirdre Wadding on the true meaning of Samhain, its mythological roots and how these traditions fit into modern life
This need to confront fear is evident across many cultures. From Japan's yūrei to America’s urban legends, humans have used storytelling and ritual for centuries to make sense of mortality. Mexico’s Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebrates the return of ancestors from the spirit world, creating an occasion for families to honour those who have passed, much like the Irish tradition of offerings to appease the dead during Samhain. Similarly, China’s Hungry Ghost festival involves appeasing restless spirits with food and rituals.
These cross-cultural parallels highlight a universal human tendency to confront death and the unknown through storytelling and ritual. Psychologists refer to this attraction to the supernatural as "safe fear", the experience of confronting fear in a controlled environment. Whether we are watching a horror film or telling ghost stories, we are able to process and manage our anxieties about death, the unknown, or even societal change. By creating a narrative around fear, we make it more comprehensible and less overwhelming.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
From RTÉ Brainstorm, what makes a great horror movie so scary?
Samhain’s traditions have proven remarkably resilient, surviving the arrival of Christianity and blending with new customs over time. As the Church sought to Christianise pagan festivals in Ireland, it introduced All Saints' Day on November 1st and All Souls' Day on November 2nd. However, many of Samhain’s folkloric practices persisted and Halloween's roots in Samhain remain undeniable, despite the festival becoming a commercialised event filled with trick-or-treating, horror films and haunted houses.
Originally, here in Ireland, faces were carved into turnips to ward off evil spirits during Samhain. As Irish immigrants brought these traditions to the United States, pumpkins became the preferred lantern, mainly because it was easier to carve and this led to the creation of the now-iconic jack-o'-lantern we associate with Halloween today. The tradition of disguising oneself, originally meant to trick evil spirits or the Aos Sí, now serves as a playful exercise in creativity and a way for children to enjoy the festivities.
The horror that we embrace today through ghost stories, haunted attractions and macabre decorations stems from the same ancient need to confront and explore the unknown. Bonfires are still lit in rural areas, and the telling of ghost stories remains a popular activity, echoing Ireland’s long-standing rich tradition of sharing folktales on dark, chilly nights.
From RTÉ Radio 1's Ray D'Arcy Show, author Kieran Fanning on his new book Haunted Ireland: An Atlas of Ghost Stories From Every County
No matter the culture, we are naturally drawn to stories that probe the mysteries of existence, life, death and what lies beyond. They speak to our most basic instincts and allow us to explore the unexplainable in a safe way and to momentarily immerse ourselves in the terrifying and strange before returning to the normal world perhaps this is why the tradition of Samhain endures.
To further immerse yourself in this eerie legacy, consider the resurgence of traditional celebrations. In recent years, some communities have revived Samhain’s more mystical elements, gathering for storytelling under the stars or hosting fire ceremonies to honour the changing seasons. These modern-day interpretations offer a meaningful connection to the past and a way to reflect on our own fears and uncertainties, much as our ancestors did.
In celebrating Halloween, we are tapping into an age-old impulse to explore what lies beyond our understanding, confronting death and fear in a symbolic, and sometimes even joyful, way. Samhain's legacy is a testament to the timeless power of folklore. It illustrates how our fascination with death, the supernatural and the unknown has shaped not only our Halloween festivities but also the way we grapple with fear itself. What began with the Celts thousands of years ago as a festival to mark the change of seasons still resonates today, reminding us that the stories we tell in the dark are as much about confronting life as they are about exploring what lies beyond it.
Follow RTÉ Brainstorm on WhatsApp and Instagram for more stories and updates
The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
