BALLYMUN is the main focus of a new sound-rich radio documentary that spans two continents and explores a wealth of traditional folk practice.
Halloween – a living tradition, was broadcast on Newstalk last weekend and is now available to download as a podcast from the Dublin based radio station.
Made by independent radio producer, Derek O’ Halloran, the programme investigates the meaning and practice of Halloween today and includes a visit to Ballymun’s Otherworld Halloween Festival.
O’ Halloran also travelled to New York to witness the spectacle of the annual Greenwich Village Halloween Parade as he set out to examine how a set of traditional beliefs, rooted in the distant past, remains relevant and popular today. During the programme the producer finds communities where Halloween has been adapted into something new, creating a celebration that addresses contemporary needs and concerns.
Combining vivid local voices and otherworldly soundscapes with expert opinion, the programme addresses some of the contradictions at the heart of the Halloween tradition, like the fact that a festival wildly popular with children and young people, is fundamentally about death and what lies beyond – subjects not generally considered appropriate for children.
According to folklorist Professor Jack Santino, Halloween is a time when the normal rules of society are turned upside down.
“To do what’s normally forbidden is a great thrill,
? he says.
“It serves as a steam valve, people are allowed to get these things out before going back to the world turned right side up – and that’s what maintains normal society.
?
But the documentary suggests tat temporarily setting aside society’s normal rules is also what leads to the anti social behaviour associated with Halloween.
In Ballymun the feature documents how the official celebration, the Otherworld Festival, is a local response to the sometimes chaotic side of the festivities.
Funding from Dublin City Council pays for arts and performance workshops in the weeks leading up to October 31 and the festival has become a key opportunity for youth projects to engage with local young people.
The documentary was produced by Derek O’ Halloran with the help of young people and staff of Poppintree and BRYR Youth Projects, Dublin City Council and the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade in New York.