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EduinBrutus t1_itlt7hs wrote

Reply to comment by RedCerealBox in Halloween in Scotland: 13 ancient customs and concepts of Celtic Halloween by MeatballDom

Its very easy to separate Halloween from Samhain from the complete lack of evidence of Halloween in Ireland (outwith pockets in the Scots planter communities) before the modern era or of any continued celebration of Samhain as a harvest festival (or whatever it actually was because that's pretty damn fuzzy).

Halloween was created, in Scotland, to continue Catholic traditions in an era where Calvinism made any "popery" either unwelcome or outright illegal. The mask of older Celtic traditions from half remembered folk tales was at best a ruse to obscure that it was just people who wanted their parties to keep going after the new protestant religion tried to ban them.

And while there is a complete lack of Irish evidence, Scots literature and other primary sources are filled with Halloween from the late 1600s onwards.

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RedCerealBox t1_itlz4x7 wrote

When is the gap in celebrating Samhain in Ireland?

By 'created in Scotland ' do you mean the name being coined? Samhain itself is present in medieval Irish literature and possibly before then.

It's literally the name of the month in Irish and people in Ireland have been lighting bonfires, dressing up and playing games with apples throughout history and not just by planters.

I know it's Wikipedia but it's well referenced: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samhain

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EduinBrutus t1_itmk9ph wrote

No, I mean Halloween was literally created in Scotland.

And inventions from the Age of Nationalism which is when Irish "history" seems to have been created and references to such material just don't cut it.

There is Halloween in Scottish literature from the late 1600s.

There is no Halloween in Irish literature of the period.

There is no Samhain in Irish literature of the period.

From your own damn link > The festival was not recorded in detail until the early modern era.

There is a world of difference between a folk practise which has some sort of root in an ancient festival or tradition but whose roots are forgotten and actual continuation of a tradition over time. Its comical to even suggest that druidic era customs continued anywhere in the British Isles when we know that they did not.

For instance take jack o lanterns. Im not aware of a single primary source that links them directly to Samhain. Certainly its reasonable that they have association with the autumn season and Samhain could have been a harvest festival. But the link is entirely based on circumstance and best guess. Its not evidenced.

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