This week was Halloween! I was really excited to see how Ireland celebrates Halloween because it is one of my favorite holidays. I had heard that Galway has a really fun Halloween, and that everyone dressed up and celebrated together. A lot of people ended up going to Dublin for Halloween events, but my friends and I wanted to stay in Galway to see how they celebrate.
Throughout the week leading up to Halloween, there were tons of events and costume parties throughout the city, including a Halloween parade on the Sunday before.
We saw Alf the Newt, which was a large Halloween float that moved around the city on Sunday night.
On Halloween night, my friends and I dressed as the Men in Black, and went out into town. There was a lot going on – each pub was packed, and there were hundreds of people dressed up.
I mainly just enjoyed walking around, looking at everyone’s costumes and listening to live music throughout the night!
Overall, I would say Halloween is pretty similar to how it is celebrated in the U.S. The main difference for me, is that Galway has such a small community feel to it, so a lot of the celebrations felt more exciting and larger because so many people were participating in the same events.
This week we also had the Galway Races, which was on the Bank Holiday in Ireland. It was student day at the races so everyone dressed up and went to watch the horse races in Galway! It was a beautiful day, and overall, a fun way for my friends and I to be able to get together and dress up!
Annie