My grandparents carved turnips at Halloween, not pumpkins.
A turnip is harder to hollow out than a pumpkin. The flesh is dense and the work is slow. You end up with something small and slightly lopsided, with a candle guttering inside that throws strange shadows across the wall. It looks nothing like the smooth orange lanterns you see in shops.
It looks, in other words, exactly right.
Because the tradition didn't come from America. It came from Ireland. From Samhain. From thousands of years of marking this particular night as the moment when the boundary between this world and the other grew thin.
The pumpkin arrived later. The tradition is ours.
What is Samhain?
Samhain (pronounced SOW-in) falls on the 31st of October and is one of the four great Celtic festivals that mark the turning of the Irish year. The others are Imbolc (1st February), Bealtaine (1st May) and Lúnasa (1st August).
Of the four, Samhain is the oldest, the most widely observed and the one that has travelled furthest from its origins while somehow remaining recognisable. Every carved lantern, every costume, every bonfire on Halloween night carries a trace of what Samhain once was.
The name itself is thought to derive from Old Irish words meaning something like the end of summer, or the gathering. It marked the point when the final harvest was brought in, the cattle were moved from summer pastures, and the year turned definitively towards winter.
It was the Irish New Year.
Samhain was not a minor festival. In early Irish literature it is described as one of the most important occasions of the year. A time of great assembly, storytelling, feasting and, yes, fear. The boundary between the living and the dead was said to dissolve at Samhain in a way it did at no other time.
Where Halloween came from: The Irish origin
The connection between Samhain and modern Halloween is direct and well documented. Irish and Scottish immigrants carried their autumn customs to America in the 18th and 19th centuries, particularly following the Great Famine of the 1840s, which brought more than a million Irish people to the United States.
They brought the tradition of carving lanterns from root vegetables such as turnips, swedes, mangelwurzels, to light the way and ward off spirits on the night when the veil was thinnest. In America, they found pumpkins, which were larger and easier to carve. The jack-o'-lantern was born.
They brought the custom of dressing in costume or mumming, which in Ireland involved groups going from house to house in disguise, performing short plays or songs in exchange for food or hospitality. In America this became trick-or-treating.
They brought the bonfires, the games, the apples, the nuts. Every element of the modern Halloween celebration has an Irish or Celtic ancestor.
Ireland gave the world Halloween. Most of the world doesn't know that. Most Irish children don't know it either.
The mythology of Samhain in ancient Ireland
In the great cycles of Irish mythology, Samhain is not a backdrop, it is a recurring moment of danger and transformation.
The gates between worlds
The most consistent theme across Irish mythology is that Samhain is when the sídhe (the fairy mounds) open. The Tuatha Dé Danann, the supernatural race who retreated into the hills and hollow places of Ireland after their defeat by the Milesians, could pass freely into the human world at Samhain. And humans, if they were not careful, could be drawn into theirs.
The great battle of Mag Tuired, one of the central events of Irish mythology, was fought at Samhain. The Morrígan, goddess of war and fate, appears at Samhain. Even the great hero Fionn Mac Cumhaill has his most famous encounter with a fire breathing supernatural being at Samhain. Aillen, who came each year to burn Tara to the ground while its defenders slept under his enchanted music.
The burning of Tara
The story of Aillen and Fionn is one of the great Samhain tales. Each year, the creature Aillen would approach the Hill of Tara (the seat of the High Kings of Ireland) playing music so beautiful that everyone who heard it fell into an enchanted sleep. Then he would breathe fire across the buildings.
The young Fionn Mac Cumhaill, not yet leader of the Fianna, stayed awake by pressing the tip of his enchanted spear against his forehead. The cold iron keeping the enchantment at bay. When Aillen came, Fionn alone was standing. He drove the creature back and killed it.
In the morning, the High King gave Fionn command of the Fianna.
It is a Samhain story, the night when ordinary defences fail, when something extraordinary is required of an unexpected person. That structure runs through almost every great Irish Samhain tale.
The turnip lantern: What it really meant
The carved lantern placed in windows and doorways at Samhain was not decoration. It was protection.
On the night when spirits moved freely between worlds, a light in the window could serve two purposes: it guided the souls of family members returning home, and it warned off spirits that were less welcome. The grotesque carved face was not supposed to look friendly. It was supposed to frighten.
In Ireland, the vegetable of choice was the turnip. Turnips were hollowed out, a face was cut into the flesh, often angular and alarming, and a candle was placed inside. The light flickered through the carved features and threw distorted shadows.
My grandparents did this. Their grandparents did it before them. The pumpkin arrived in living memory. The turnip goes back centuries.
If you want to try carving a turnip lantern with children this Samhain, be warned: it is harder work than a pumpkin and the result will be smaller and less symmetrical. It will also be more genuinely connected to the tradition than anything you could buy in a shop.
The foods of Samhain: Colcannon, barmbrack and the hidden ring
Samhain had its own ritual foods, many of which survive in Irish households today even when the connection to the old festival is forgotten.
Colcannon
Colcannon, mashed potato mixed with kale or cabbage, was the traditional Samhain dish. Charms were hidden in the colcannon and whoever found them in their bowl could divine something about their future. A ring meant marriage was coming. A coin meant wealth. A thimble meant a life of work.
The dish is still eaten at Halloween in many Irish homes. The charms have largely disappeared. But the recipe is unchanged.
Barmbrack
Barmbrack (bairín breac in Irish, meaning speckled loaf) is a fruit bread traditionally baked for Samhain and Halloween. Like colcannon, it contained hidden objects. The ring baked inside the barmbrack is the most famous: whoever found it would be married within the year.
Barmbrack wrapped in paper is still sold in Irish supermarkets every October, often with a plastic ring inside. The ring is the last survivor of an old divination tradition that once included a pea (poverty), a stick (an unhappy marriage) and a piece of cloth (uncertain fortune).
Nuts and apples
Hazelnuts and apples appear repeatedly in Samhain tradition. Both were associated with knowledge and the otherworld in Irish mythology. The salmon of knowledge fed on hazelnuts that fell from trees above a sacred pool. At Samhain, nuts were thrown into fires and their burning predicted the future. Apples were used in divination games, the most famous of which survives today as apple bobbing.
How to celebrate Samhain with children: The Irish way
You don't have to choose between the Irish tradition and the modern Halloween. They are the same thing at different points in the same river. But there are ways to deepen the celebration that bring children closer to where it came from.
Tell them where Halloween came from
This is the simplest thing and perhaps the most powerful. Tell your children that Halloween is an Irish festival. That it came from here, from these islands, from people who paid close attention to this time of year for thousands of years before the costumes and the sweets. Children who know this carry something forward.
Try carving a turnip
It is genuinely difficult and the result will be imperfect. That is exactly the point. The struggle is part of the tradition. An adult should handle the initial hollowing, the flesh is dense and a strong knife is needed, but children can help scrape and design the face.
Make colcannon
Mash potatoes with butter and cream, then mix in finely shredded kale or cabbage that has been cooked in a little butter. Season well. If you want to continue the tradition, hide a small coin wrapped in foil inside the colcannon before serving. Warn children to chew carefully first.
Tell a Samhain story
The story of Fionn and Aillen is the most child-friendly of the great Samhain tales. It's filled with a young hero, a sleeping court, a monster, a single brave act. It is a story about staying awake when everyone else has fallen under an enchantment. Children respond to it immediately.
For a second Samhain story rooted in the same tradition, the Púca is the creature most associated with this time of year in Irish folklore, a shapeshifting trickster who moves through the world differently at Samhain than at any other time. It is the same creature who, as the old Irish belief holds, spoils the blackberries after the 31st of October.
Autumn Night: The Púca is a Little Sprouts folklore story written specifically for children aged 3–9 and set on Samhain night, available as a digital download to read aloud together.
Go for a Samhain nature walk
The natural world at the end of October is genuinely changed. Leaves are turning and falling, seed heads are bare, fungi are appearing, migrating birds are gathering. A walk with attention to what is finishing and what is beginning carries the same spirit as the old festival. The noticing of the turning year.
Free Irish folklore stories for the turning year
Four Stories for the Turning Year is a free collection of Irish nature myths for families. One story for each season, including the dark turn into winter that Samhain marks. Download it free below.
Celebrate the Irish seasons every month
The Little Sprouts Garden Box follows the Celtic seasonal calendar all year. Each box contains organic seeds to grow, an Irish folklore story, a seasonal craft and a recipe, delivered to your door each month. The October box is rooted in the Samhain tradition. No garden needed. Ships across Ireland, the UK and Europe.
Frequently asked questions
What is Samhain and how do you pronounce it?
Samhain is the ancient Irish festival held on the 31st of October, marking the end of summer and the beginning of the dark half of the year. It is pronounced SOW-in, the 'mh' in Irish makes a 'w' sound and the 'ain' ending is a soft 'in'. Samhain is the direct ancestor of modern Halloween and originated in Ireland and Scotland thousands of years ago.
Is Halloween actually an Irish festival?
Yes. Halloween originated in Ireland as the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain. Irish and Scottish immigrants brought the customs including carved lanterns, costumes, bonfires and divination games to America in the 18th and 19th centuries, where they evolved into the modern Halloween. The jack-o'-lantern tradition began in Ireland with carved turnips before pumpkins became the preferred vessel in America.
What did people do at Samhain in ancient Ireland?
At Samhain, the ancient Irish believed that the boundary between the living world and the otherworld grew thin, allowing spirits and supernatural beings to cross over. Communities lit bonfires, wore costumes to confuse wandering spirits, left food offerings, performed divination rituals to foresee the future, and gathered for feasting and storytelling. The festival also marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter.
Why did Irish people carve turnips instead of pumpkins?
Carved lanterns were part of the Irish Samhain tradition long before pumpkins were known in Ireland. The traditional Irish lantern was carved from a turnip, swede or mangelwurzel, root vegetables that were widely grown in Ireland. When Irish immigrants arrived in America, they discovered that pumpkins were larger, easier to carve and more widely available. The pumpkin jack-o'-lantern evolved from the Irish turnip lantern tradition.
What is the Irish mythology connected to Samhain?
Samhain appears frequently in Irish mythology as a night of danger and transformation. The fairy mounds were said to open at Samhain, allowing the Tuatha Dé Danann to move freely between worlds. The story of Fionn Mac Cumhaill defeating the fire-breathing Aillen at Tara is one of the great Samhain tales. The Morrígan, goddess of fate and war, is particularly associated with Samhain. Many of the great battles and transformations in Irish mythology occur on this night.
How can families celebrate Samhain in an Irish way?
Irish families can mark Samhain by telling children that Halloween is an Irish festival and explaining where it came from. Carving a turnip lantern connects directly to the pre-pumpkin tradition. Making colcannon (mashed potato with kale or cabbage) and barmbrack connects to the ritual foods of the old festival. Going for a nature walk to notice what is finishing and beginning in the natural world carries the spirit of the original festival. Telling the story of Fionn and Aillen or other Samhain tales from Irish mythology gives children a direct connection to the tradition.
