Wander & Wonder Travel Newsletter

Hey StoryHunter

Halloween was not invented in America.

Its roots go back more than 2,000 years, to Samhain - the Celtic festival at the end of the harvest, when the worlds of the living and the dead were believed to come close.

This week, the biggest Halloween party in Europe takes over Derry~Londonderry in Northern Ireland.

From 28 to November 1st, more than 100,000 people are expected - and this year the festival turns 40.

Read on to learn about:

🏰 The walls no army ever broke

🎃 The party that started in a pub

🕯️ Why the first jack-o'-lanterns were turnips

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Destination of the Week

Derry is one of the few cities where the old city walls still run all the way around the centre.

They were built between 1613 and 1619, and they are about a mile long.

In 1689, an army surrounded the city for 105 days.

The walls held - and they have never been broken, which is why Derry is nicknamed the Maiden City.

Today you can walk the whole loop on top of the walls for free, past seven gates and 22 old cannons.

Look out for the most famous one: Roaring Meg.

Don't Miss

In 1986, a few regulars at a Derry pub decided to throw a fancy-dress party for Halloween.

It got slightly out of hand.

Forty years later, Derry Halloween is billed as the largest Halloween festival in Europe.

For four nights, the walled city turns into a trail of light, fire and Celtic folklore, with street theatre, acrobats and creatures from old Irish myths.

The highlight is the carnival parade, followed by fireworks over the River Foyle.

And most of it is completely free.

Did You Know?

Before there were pumpkins, there were turnips.

In Ireland and Britain, people used to hollow out turnips at Halloween and carve scary faces into them.

An old Irish folk tale explains why: a sly blacksmith called Stingy Jack tricked the Devil - and when he died, neither Heaven nor Hell would let him in.

So the Devil tossed him a burning coal, and Jack put it inside a carved turnip to light his way through the dark.

When Irish emigrants arrived in America, they found something much easier to carve: the pumpkin.

The Trendy Traveler Tip

Want to celebrate Halloween like the Irish? 

Skip the sweets and buy a barmbrack.

It is a sweet loaf full of dried fruit - and something else.

Traditionally, small objects were baked inside, and each one predicted your future: a ring meant a wedding within the year, a coin meant riches, and a pea meant no wedding at all.

Most shop-bought barmbracks still hide a little ring.

Toast a slice, add butter, share it with friends - and see who gets lucky.

(just chew carefully)