Halloween in Galway

Planning a Halloween or mid term break in Galway? Have a spooktacular time at the g Hotel & Spa.

Monster Mash Party 

Gather your friends and join us for a spooky night of ghastly delights and spine-chilling frolics on Friday 30th October. Find your inner demon and dress up for Croi at The Monster Mash Party – tickets just €30 per person. The evening will be packed wall-to-wall with creative costumes, tantalising cocktails, terror-ific entertainment and fiendish fun. Let your imagination run riot from the wild to the wonderful with masks, gowns, wigs & blood – anything goes! TO BOOK https://www.croi.ie/MONSTERMASH 

Macnas Parade

The annual Macnas Halloween parade will take place on Sunday 25th October at 5.30pm.  Macnas will be celebrating 30 years next year and they never fail to create a stunning spectacle of  street-hopping, traffic-stopping performances including a host of giants, over 300 scampering performers, bespoke costumes and live music – consistently attracting thousands of locals & visitors

alike. Everyone is encouraged to dress up in masks, glitter, feathers, DIY costumes and whatever helps celebrate the surreal, the off-beat and the unexpected. The parade takes a similar route each year and starts at Fisheries Field – Eglinton Street – Shop Street – High Street – Quay Street – Spanish Arch – Fr. Griffin
Rd (fire station). This year’s Macnas Parade is entitled ‘The Shadow Lighter’ and it celebrates transformation, life, death and rebirth.

Galway Aboo Halloween Festival

The Galway Aboo Halloween Festival takes place in the medieval streets of Galway’s Latin Quarter on Saturday 24th, Sunday 25th and Saturday 31st of October 2015. It is the country’s largest Halloween Festival and plays host to a number of activities and free events promising to be frightfully good fun for all ages. A full line-up of events for the Galway Aboo Hallowe'en Festival will be announced shortly.

Whether you are planning a ghoulish gathering or Halloween haunt – join us at the g Hotel & Spa in Galway – it is sure to be a scream!

Photos by Julia Dunin Photography

Origins of Halloween

Did you know that Halloween originated in Ireland?

It has its roots in the pagan festival of Samhain. Samhain marked the end of the harvest and it was an important fire festival in Ireland, celebrated on the 31 October and throughout the following day. The flames of old fires had to be extinguished by the druids and ceremonially re-lit to begin the new cycle or year.

It was a time when all the crops had been gathered and placed in storage for the long winter ahead and when livestock would be brought in from the fields and selected for slaughter or breeding. The bonfires were also used as part of the slaughter ceremonies.

Samhain was a time when the souls of the departed would return to their family homes and when potentially malevolent spirits were released from the Otherworld and visible to mankind. It was a night when banshees, fairies and other spirits could come and go quite freely. 

To ward off the evil spirits, people wore masks and disguises which has since become our modern day costume tradition for Halloween.

Lights were placed outside houses to further protect against spirits and later, in America, pumpkins were carved with scary faces and lit with candles to ward off evil.

The Druids used to collect gifts of food from local villagers and it is said it was better to provide a gift or 'treat' rather than run the risk of a curse or 'trick' which has since transformed into  the family trick or treating today. Excavations at the Hill of Tara produced evidence that Samhain was celebrated as far back as 3000BC before the Celts even arrived in Ireland and later it coincided with All Hallow's eve, the evening before All Saints Day which was eventually where the name 'Halloween' came from. 

In Galway we celebrate a Galway Aboo Festival starting on the Bank Holiday weekend before Halloween. The Macnas Parade is a popular highlight each year with giant puppets, restless stilt walkers, crowds of themed followers and pyrotechnics combine to create a street spectacle that wows and amazes locals and visitors alike.

Join us at the g Hotel & Spa for a hauntingly fantastic Halloween with bewitching martinis & vampiric spirits. Our spooky mixologist will brewing up a cauldron of tasty beverages for our guests.  

Try our Dracula's Kiss Martini with black vodka or our Pumpkin Perfection on the rocks combining Hennessy with orange juice and ginger ale or the refreshing Captain's Blood Punch with vodka, pomegranate, lime and cranberry.

We also offer a Spooktacular Afternoon Tea with savoury sandwiches, freshly baked scones, pastries and Halloween themed sweet treats such as white chocolate ghosts, spiced pumpkin cake, orange macaroons and baked chocolate & pumpkin pie. Afternoon Tea is served 3pm - 5pm Monday to Friday and 1pm - 5pm on weekends. Served with your choice of hot beverage, Afternoon Tea at the g is €26 for one and €46 for two guests. Email eat@theg.ie to book.

Happy Halloween!