![]() ![]() But Halloween customs can not be so easily traced. ![]() It is perhaps not a surprise that the nation which dominates the present Halloween narrative is Ireland, it being the only one of the four nations to have a massive, influential cultural revolution in the shape of the Gaelic Revival, which merged nationalism, mythology and eventually (after much bloodshed) polity. Instead Halloween has become a sort of battleground over identity, politics and nationality, with dubious claims thrown into the mix that its origin harks back to the pre-Christian age. Mayne’s wise observation that Halloween customs vary (like all cultures and languages) with the times, has not been widely accepted. This work was a major influence on Robert Burns’ more famous poem of the same name which appeared in 1785. “Customs vary wi’ the times, At Hallowe’en” wrote John Mayne in his 1780 poem simply entitled Hallowe’en.
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