Oíche Shamhna

A little background on the Celtic New Year festival that went global

Millions of children and adults around the world participate in Halloween celebrations every year, but perhaps few are aware of, or indeed care about, its ancient Celtic origins. Here in Ireland when I was a kid, we'd call to the doors of neighbours with a shout to "help the Halloween party!" Our bags were filled with apples, oranges, grapes and buckets…