I’ve been reading recently about how the UK suddenly seems much more interested in Halloween than it was a couple of years ago.

I’m glad ― coming from Ireland, where I feel spooky season is a bigger deal, I’ve found myself missing trick-or-treaters, themed parties, and pumpkins.

Perhaps that’s because the holiday has its origins in Ireland’s Oíche Shamhna, or Samhain, where the walls between this world and the next are said to be extra-thin.

The holiday’s huge success in the US meant parts of the American customs got drip-fed back to Ireland, but some traditions like delicious báirín breac (barmbrack) lasted.

One change I appreciate, however, is the shift from pumpkin jack-o’-lanterns to, oh, let’s say our historic haunted turnip heads.

Yep ― according to the National Museum of Ireland, we used to carve turnips to create “scary” lanterns.

“Candles were placed inside the turnips and they were used to frighten people on the night of 31 October,” their site reads.

Another video from the museum says they could be made from potatoes too.

“The pumpkin that is prevalent today is an American development of this Irish tradition.”

Special crosses were also created during the festival and placed over peoples’ doors to protect homes.

Oíche Shamhna is sort of like Samhain Eve ― the night we now know as Halloween (31 October) was a spooky lead-up to the festival.

In fact Halloween got its name from the Feast of All Saints (The Hallowed Ones).

Some would dress in terrifying sheep’s wool and horse hair masks.

According to the National Museum of Ireland, the name is meant to refer to an actual Jack.

“The term, Jack o’ Lanterns, takes its name from the folktale about Jack, who was welcome neither in Heaven or Hell and was destined to wander the countryside forever, with just a lantern to light the way,” they wrote.

If Jack is meant to be the Ghost Turnip the museum preserved, then honestly, I think he’d be better taking the downstairs option… anything has to be better than this, Mr O’Lantern.

If you’re from a certain generation, you’ve likely spent the final months of the year in an ongoing debate about whether the 1993 flick The Nightmare Before Christmas counts as a Halloween or Christmas film.

No, you can’t say both.

Unlike most silly debates, there are two healthy points of view here — the film is exploring the themes of Christmas and what it means to families and communties.

However, crucially… It’s set in a place called Halloween Town which is inhabited by traditionally scary creatures that count down to Halloween every year.

However, the director of The Nightmare Before Christmas weighed in on this debate and I’m sorry to all the Christmas fans but you might be disappointed…

If you’ve ever found yourself embroiled in this debate, we have exactly the bit of trivia you need.

When the director was asked whether he considers it to be a Christmas or Halloween film at a 2015 Q&A at Colorado’s Telluride Horror Show film festival, he said: “Oh, boy, it’s a Halloween movie.”

So that’s that. We can debate over other things this festive season, like whether Love Actually is good, actually.

It was Henry Sellick that directed the film and not Tim Burton, as many people believe. Tim wrote the story but the direction was all down to Henry, who also directed Coraline.

Speaking about this common misconception in 2022, Henry said: ”[It] was a little unfair because it wasn’t called Tim Burton’s [The Nightmare Before Christmas] until three weeks before the film came out.

“And I would have been fine with that, if that’s what I signed up for. But Tim was in LA making two features while I directed that film.”

Let’s consider the record straight: it’s a Halloween film, directed by Henry Sellick.