In today's column I talk about my experience of Halloween growing up in Derry, and my son's rather limited go of it. But I *also* traffic in some thoroughly debunked Irish halloween myths, so I'd like to correct the record. theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2…
Although Samhain did denote the start of winter, conflating it with Halloween is a relatively modern invention, without much actual evidence. Also, Irish emigrants to America did celebrate Hallowe'en, but so did the English, Welsh, others.
https://twitter.com/VoxHib/status/792796851036643328?s=19
The conjecture that the veil between worlds was more permeable on Samhain, hence beasties, costumes and trick or treating, also seems to have appeared in the early 20th century. A nice story, but bolloxology alas.
https://twitter.com/Cavalorn/status/1322512208958554113?s=19
I've been hearing this stuff for decades and fired off the piece without checking. Do follow @VoxHib if you're interested in this kind of stuff, their timeline is a treasure trove of corrections to mistakes like mine.
In any case the most important thing is my son's decidedly non-spooky fox costume was a wild success. 
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