Tag Archives: Costume

Mar2

Halloween in Dublin

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31-Oct-2025

Editor’s Note: Ben is busy. Like… We can’t quite describe how busy Ben is, with this whole “Master’s Program” aside from pointing to the lack of updates, hiking, climbing, and even gym time. In short – Thank you, dear readers, for bearing with him while he get’s his world in order.

DID YOU KNOW?

Dublin is the home of Halloween?

Well, yes. You likely do know, dear readers, as I do believe I’ve posted a bit about it in my Rathcrogan, Cave of the Cats, post a while back.

But then… what does an American do, when in Dublin, for Halloween?

Well.

…

Not that much, as it turns out. From what I learned, Halloween here is a bit more of a “tribal” thing? Or at least, a more tightly-knit friend group thing. For Ex-Pats like myself, there really isn’t a ton going on. Myself, my Classmate Andrea, my friend Brian, and a whole slew of other classmates all huddled up and went to a nearby pub that was supposedly hosting a Halloween costume party (but clearly didn’t, because we clearly would have won).

For Dubliners, or especially the folks living in the neighborhood that I’ve made my home, it’s a bit more of an ancient affair. Which is to say – kids gather wood for a month or so ahead of time, storing it in vast quantities in hidden lairs. They raid other kid’s stashes, and protect their own from opportunistic raiding, in the dream of having the biggest bonfire.

Then, the evening of Halloween, the city burns. Seriously, see the link below.

Countless bonfires and fireworks go off, and parties are had, and people celebrate… all while those international personas, such as myself, wonder how exactly to break into those friend groups so that we too can dance around the fire…

Though, maybe, we can keep a fire extinguisher nearby. Just a thought.

Link to previous post = https://talesfromthehutt.com/2025/01/22/a-trip-into-legend-the-cave-of-the-cats-in-rathcrogan-and-the-origin-of-samhain-halloween/?preview_id=35587&preview_nonce=9400141bfa&preview=true

Some more info about Halloween and Dublin = https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cj4d40rwwyjo

How much did Dublin burn in 2024? Well… = https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2024/11/01/dublin-fire-brigade-experience-busiest-halloween-in-10-years/

Dec17

A Halloween of many parts: Weekend #2

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By the time I showed up at Daniel’s apartment for my third Halloween celebration, I’d already had a rather full day – the NERAX beer tasting event in the morning and rock climbing at Metro Rock in the afternoon… not to mention the fact that I’d stayed up nearly the entire night before putting the finishing touches on my costume.

What costume had I been working on, you ask? Well, more a prop for a costume; I’d run with the “fallen angel” that I’d worn to Salem, and simply added one extra bit – a golden fiddle. A golden fiddle complete with the full lyrics to the famous “Devil went down to Georgia” song.

The party that night was, in a word, excellent. Nearly everyone *cough*ExceptChirag*cough* had an awesome costume, and the hosts had set the apartment up perfectly for a rather amazing evening. A few of the best moments follow:

  • Marla dressed up, rather impressively, as Link from the Legend of Zelda. But there was one problem – she’s not an encyclopedia of random Zelda knowledge. A few of our friends are. A quote from Marla, who was worried that no one would get her costume, “Dude! I out-geeked myself!”
  • I played a fiddle competition against a Victorian-Era Viking. The results are still inconclusive.
  • Mike dressed up as Caesar, gave Erin and Chirag collapsible prop-knives, and got assassinated part-way through the party. That was awesome.
  • What was more awesome was Daniel’s roommate Sue standing on top of his “corpse” and reciting the entire death-speech from Shakespeare’s play. From memory.
  • There was a Pinata. It was hellishly difficult to break… especially since people insisted that we spin the at-bar person around a dozen times. Many kneecaps screamed in agony, but the pinata was finally defeated.

As the party wore on into the night, Cards against Humanity was brought out and we played a few semi-rousing games before a group of us decided to head on out and change the pace a bit. Big T was finally back in town, and Mike Chirag and myself wanted to have a fun Scotch and Cigar night with him before he needed to head out. Thanks to Chirag’s sober lifestyle we had a driver, and so we moved the party over to Mike’s apartment for the remainder of the evening.

We caroused, hung out, caught up, and even watched an episode or two of Archer. And in the morning, we got an amazing diner breakfast from Innman Square.

Not a bad way to finish up my three Halloween adventures.