Analysis: A new scheme is currently being promoted in major international markets like the US, to draw visitors to designated Halloween 'hubs' by 2030
On Griffith Bridge under the tower of St Anne's Church you hear the screams of onlookers heralding its arrival. Out of the darkness you see its glistening teeth and colossal wingspan. You are in Cork, and this is The Dragon of Shandon.
This parade was created by Cork Community Art Link in 2006 to celebrate the ancient feast of Samhain, but you are as likely to see Brazilian samba dancers and Mexican skull masks as banshees and bodhráns. It is a celebration of Cork’s multiculturalism, which is meant to 'build upon existing local traditions and culture’, and its success highlights that Samhain is an evolving cultural event.
The historical understanding of Samhain is complicated and contested. Jonny Dillon, archivist at the National Folklore Collection, University College Dublin, explains the word ‘Samhain’ may linked to the notion of a ‘gathering’, as well as perhaps ‘summer’s end’. In early Irish literature, the feast of Samhain marked the end of summer’s light and the beginning of the coming darkness of winter. In folk traditions, this liminal time also marked the passage of the fairies across the land from their summer to winter retreats, when it would be unsafe to be outside for fear of you would be taken by these mischievous creatures.
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From RTÉ Archives, Dr Bairbre Ní Fhloinn of the National Folklore Collection in UCD takes questions from viewers about Halloween in 1995
The night before Samhain, Oíche Shamna (Samhain Eve), eventually became known as Hallowe’en. One might therefore say the Irish ‘invented’ the modern idea of Halloween, but we can't overlook the importance of the Irish diaspora in the US. These emigrants carried their Halloween customs, like lighting candles in carved turnips, across the Atlantic where pumpkins became their preferred vegetable. Eventually, the global reach of US culture ‘introduced’ this practice back to Ireland where it is now the new ‘tradition’.
This circular relationship is not new. When Sligo’s Michael Coleman took his style of traditional Irish fiddling to the US, he was heavily influenced by their blues, jazz, gospel, and vaudeville. His modified style was sent back to Ireland on 78 rpm records where they became hugely popular examples of ‘traditional’ Irish music.
This same relationship can arguably be seen with St Patrick’s Day. The first recorded celebrations took place in Boston in 1737, but in the 19th and 20th Century, Irish-Americans increased its popularity by using it to bolster civic pride against commonplace prejudices. It is now a nationwide cross-cultural celebration in which US consumers spend roughly $7.2 billion per year. Contrastingly, Irish St Patrick’s Day was a sombre religious festival for many people long into the 20th Century. Pubs did not even open on March 17th until the mid-1960s. As the Celtic Tiger emerged in the mid-1990s and Ireland opened itself up to the world more, both economically and culturally, the annual Dublin St Patrick’s Day parade was launched. It now pumps approximately €122 million per year into the Irish economy, and is roughly equivalent to the combined value of all other nationwide parades combined.
From RTÉ Brainstorm, How the Irish really invented Halloween
In 2018 Fáilte Ireland undertook a feasibility study to understand if similar value could be generated by Halloween. They identified a ‘Significant [economic] opportunity’, and so joined with Tourism Ireland and Tourism Northern to develop the Home of Halloween project. This involves a yearly investment of €7.5 million with a target of 233,000 visitors per year to designated Halloween ‘hubs’ by 2030, of which 70,000 are hoped to be overseas visitors. The 2025 Home of Halloween Destination Development (Pilot) Scheme identified seven ‘hubs’, which are local authorities that are meant to deliver a ‘critical mass of authentic Samhain and Halloween themed experiences’.
The scheme is currently being promoted in major international markets like the US. Its risk, critics might therefore warn, is that Halloween could become a new St Patrick’s Day – a ‘load of ponce and wonce’ geared toward US tourists. In a recent Irish Times opinion piece, Mark O’Connell wrote:
'When American tourists show up here on March 17th, they have in a sense travelled thousands of kilometres to have a piece of their own culture sold back to them, chintzily rebranded with shamrocks and harps.'
Read more: Masks and black plastic bags: how we used to celebrate Halloween
One might counter this critique by suggesting that promoting modern Halloween using iconography and customs originally developed from the US Irish diaspora is a celebration of the global reach of Irish culture. It is also a lucrative approach, as the average US visitor will stay 8.4 days in Ireland and spends approximately €2,142. We can likewise welcome the fact that unlike Dublin, which benefits overwhelmingly from St Patrick’s Day, the benefits of a more Paddy’s Day-like Halloween will be wider dispersed across the island.
The answer to the question - is Halloween the new St Patrick’s Day? - therefore depends on who you ask. The Irish state would like to think yes, as it might bring higher tourism revenue in the slower months of October and November. Critics, however, would likely warn that Halloween is an important part of Irish cultural history and identity, and would not wish to see the equivalent of ‘St Patty’s Day’ tee-shirts or died-green stout at contemporary Irish celebrations of Halloween.
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The views expressed here are those of the author and do not represent or reflect the views of RTÉ
