A frightfully good trip to Europe’s biggest Halloween festival

Ireland is the birthplace of Halloween, tracing its roots back over 2,000 years to the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (Picture: Diana Jarvis) From Wednesday Addams to Pennywise the killer clown, author James Draven meets the kooky characters at Derry Halloween. ‘This is crazy!’ says Mike as he tries to negotiate a plastic pint-glass through the mouthguard of his Hannibal Lecter mask. ‘It’s so intense,’ he adds, as he gestures towards the crowds of costumed revellers that engulf him, the lights, the noise that pulses through the streets of Derry tonight. ‘And it goes on for four days and nights! It’s way bigger than anything we get back home.’ I met Mike and Rhonda, a middle-aged couple from Phoenix, Arizona, outside a bar on Shipley Street. Their accents gave them away. They have come all the way from the USA to Northern Ireland for a long weekend because, they say, Halloween is done better here. ‘We saw videos of Derry Halloween last year and we decided we just had to come,’ Rhonda explains, as I stare at the zip that runs up her face, creating the illusion of exposing the green skin and warty nose of a witch beneath. Derry Halloween celebrates its 40th anniversary (Picture: Diana Jarvis) As the largest festival of its kind in Europe, Derry Halloween – which turns 40 this year – attracts over 100,000 visitors each October, and every single one of them is in fancy dress. Crammed into the doorway of the pub beside us, a group of women are dressed as Dallas Cowboys’ cheerleaders – white boots, blue stars, bare legs exposed to the late October cold. Ask Metro Use AI to go deeper into the stories you care about – powered by Metro and trusted publications. Nearby, a family of five is dressed as The Addams Family. Between a brace of Beetlejuices, Pennywise from IT, a dozen or more people dressed as giant bananas, and a group of 40-year-old Derry Girls, wearing their iconic school uniform, a woman sitting on a pub bench is enclosed by a cardboard milk float that references a fan-favourite episode of beloved sitcom, Father Ted. Like those two classic comedy shows, Halloween was born in Ireland. Samhain marks the end of the harvest and the start of winter; the ‘dark half of the year’ (Picture: Diana Jarvis) Although it’s often thought of as an American invention, its earliest roots lie in Samhain (pronounced ‘SAH-win’ or ‘SOW-in’), an ancient Gaelic festival celebrated for over 2,000 years in Ireland. Observed at the end of October, Samhain marks the end of the harvest and the beginning of winter. In early Irish belief, this was a liminal time when the boundary between worlds weakened. Spirits, ancestors, and otherworldly beings were thought to pass more freely among the living. Communities responded with fire and ritual: bonfires were lit, offerings were made, and people disguised themselves in masks to avoid unwanted attention from wandering entities. Hollowed turnips, carved and lit with embers, were placed at thresholds as a form of protection. These practices travelled far beyond Ireland during the nineteenth century, carried by emigrants fleeing famine and hardship. In North America, these traditions adapted to new surroundings. Ancient Celts believed the boundary between the living and the spirit world thinned around November 1, allowing spirits to roam (Picture: Diana Jarvis) The turnip lantern became the pumpkin, easier to carve and more abundant, while seasonal mischief, storytelling and disguise developed into trick-or-treating and broader forms of public celebration. Over time, Halloween became the mainstream tradition we know today – all plastic fangs and supermarket cobwebs. That form has returned to Derry, where it has been reshaped again, this time with a conscious awareness of its origins. Scare tactics In 1985, Brian Doherty organised a Halloween party in Doherty’s Bar on Magazine Street. Due to a bomb scare, the pub had to be evacuated and the costumed partygoers spilled out onto the streets where the merriment continued as a pub crawl – an event that’s sometimes thought of as Derry’s first Halloween parade. In ancient Ireland, people lit massive bonfires and wore costumes or disguises to ward off wandering spirits (Picture: Diana Jarvis) Other pubs saw how popular it was, and by 1986 Halloween was a thing in Derry. The city was renowned as a major shirt-making hub at the turn of the 20th century, home to over 40 factories at its peak, so many locals had the skills to sew their own elaborate costumes. The idea took hold quickly: the council got involved in the ‘90s and the event grew year on year, drawing locals who were keen for an event that was defined by collective expression rather than political division. Today, costumes, performances, and fireworks dominate, though storytelling and Irish mythology remain woven into the programme. Projections are superimposed over buildings that have stood for centuries and medieval walls are repurposed as stages for spooky street performers. In Guildhall Square – beneath the clock face, illuminated pumpkin-orange for the festivities – a live band blasts out gothic riffs and monster hits to thousands of costumed revellers. When Irish immigrants travelled to North America, they brought these traditions with them, where turnips evolved into pumpkins (Picture: Diana Jarvis) Inside the Guildhall, its polished floors and stained glass carry an air of civic order that feels incongruous with the chaos outside – but the festival has entered here, too. In the centre of the main hall hangs a vast, suspended Moon, its craters and shadows picked out in soft light. Around it move performers on stilts, their gestures slow and deliberate. They circle the Moon as though caught in its gravity, taking giant steps around the room. The effect is strangely hypnotic within the wider noise of the festival. When the Armagh Rhymers enter, that feeling deepens. The history of Halloween comes alive in Derry (Picture: Diana Jarvis) Their wicker masks intricately portray a bull, a rabbit, a horse – and some creatures that defy description. Their true faces are obscured by woven twigs that suggest both concealment and transformation. Their straw costumes – organic, fragile, painstakingly made – stand in contrast to the synthetic brightness outside. As they play the accordion, fiddle, guitar and bodhrán, tell stories and sing traditional folk songs, their voices rise and fall in a cadence that feels less like performance and more like invocation. By the time I step back out into the night, the crowd has reshuffled in anticipation of the parade. I join the masses on the banks of the River Foyle, where RTE, the BBC and US TV stations have set up to broadcast the procession live. We have Ireland to thank for modern day Halloween (Picture: Diana Jarvis) A gargantuan snake, illuminated from within, corkscrews through the masses; monsters with elongated limbs, stretched necks and distorted faces wave eerie greetings; wolves stalk the streets, each limb controlled by a black-clad puppeteer; creatures that exist somewhere between fun, fear and folklore march past in spooky succession. Then, from two barges positioned in the middle of the river, a volley of fireworks erupts into the sky. Orange and green; red, white and blue. And purple, silver, yellow – golden lights gild the Peace Bridge in the dark. Our Top Shopping Picks See London's Christmas lights from an open-top double-decker bus this winter My skin always suffers when the heating goes on but this serum changed that The skincare formula that finally took the guesswork out of my routine Families can save up to 20% on summer 2027 holidays in Club Med's four-day sale Cold mornings are coming and this is the dressing gown I want to live in The crowd turns toward the embankment, faces held upwards, illuminated, together, unafraid. The essentials Derry Halloween 2026 runs from Wednesday 28 October to Sunday 1 November. Northern Ireland is part of the common travel area, meaning there are no travel restrictions for British travellers. For more information, please visit ireland.com/northernireland. James Draven’s new book The Nocturnal Traveller: After-Dark Adventures in Moonlit Britain will be published on 10 June 2027. Pre-order it here. 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