By Siobhan Clarke
Halloween is the best holiday. Period.
Obviously, my bias is strong. My birthday falls the day before the fateful day, as well as the Halloween tradition hailing from my ancestral home, Ireland.
The holiday transcends generations as there is no set way you’re supposed to celebrate; trick or treating, decorating, parties, or staying home and watching horror movies.
Halloween takes place on October 31st each year and has only recently risen to prominence into Australian culture.
Records suggest that Halloween was first celebrated in Australia in 1858 in Castlemaine, Victoria, when Scottish and Irish miners hosted a themed ball.
Halloween has become a more commercialised event Down Under in the past few decades due to the rising cultural influence from the United States but still hasn’t quite reached the levels of extravagance that America upholds.
The tradition dates back more than 2000 years, with the Irish festival Samhain marking the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter.
At this time, it is believed in traditional Irish Celtic mythology that the gateway to The Otherworld becomes thin, allowing supernatural entities and souls of the dead to cross into this world.
Back then, people would wear disguises to confuse malicious entities, leave food out as an offering to the spirits, and embrace the tale of Sean na Gealaí. In the present day, this has evolved and translated into Halloween costumes, trick or treating, and the carving of pumpkins into Jack-o’-lanterns.
I honestly don’t remember a time when I wasn’t playing dress-up and had a full face of face paint on; it was a daily occurrence. So, you can imagine my delight when I found out there was an entire holiday dedicated to it.
For me growing up, Halloween always meant the chance to dress up, rewatch Tim Burton’s entire catalogue on DVD, and play with my birthday gifts.
It was even better when my intake of lollies and chocolates doubled.
In the sitcom Derry Girls, written by Lisa McGee, there is an entire episode dedicated to the holiday – fitting as Derry holds the largest Halloween festival in all of Europe, this year celebrating its 40th anniversary.
It began in 1985, the height of the Troubles, when owner of a local pub, Brian Doherty, hosted a Halloween fancy dress party. The pub quickly filled up with people in fancy dress, with people remembering costumes such as cavemen, the incredible Hulk, Ronald Reagans and even a Margaret Thatcher.
In an interview with the BBC in 2017, Doherty said: “We had a bomb scare, and everyone spilled out along Castle Street and down Waterloo Street. Someone asked me last year if that was the first Halloween parade in Derry – I am not sure about that, but what I do know is that the following year everyone was doing fancy dress.”
My fondness for the holiday also draws from numerous childhood birthday parties.
I remember my parents putting a tremendous amount of effort into these parties, there was a Halloween-themed Women’s Weekly Little Party Books recipe book that probably gives my parents nightmares to this day.
As I’ve gotten older, I’ve found other ways to enjoy Halloween, particularly giving out lollies to young kids, hoping that as they grow they have the same affectionately remembered Halloween memories.
Last year, the night was spent with friends watching horror films back-to-back until we saw the sun rising.
Though I will say scary movies are not my favourite. Showing your three-year-old Michael Jackson’s Thriller music video may not have the best trajectory on her ability to handle the horror genre when she’s older.
This year, Halloween falls on Saturday, with many labelling the event on social media as “Halloweekend”, with continuous celebrations planned from Friday to Sunday.
I’m thoroughly excited for the festivities this year with numerous parties and events planned, as well as celebrating the milestone of reaching my twenties.
For the future of Halloween celebrations in Australia, my prediction is that it will remain relatively the same as they’ve been, just with some fresh costumes.
Featured Image: Siobhan and her older sister as cailleacha (witches). Photo: Garin Clarke