As many as 25,000 people, most of them in fancy dress, packed the rainy windswept streets of Derry last night for the annual Hallowe'en parade through the city centre, followed by a huge fireworks display.
Over a quarter of a ton of fireworks were launched from a tugboat in the River Foyle directly behind the Guildhall.
The celebrations were led by a group of exchange students from Germany and the US who walked the city's historic walls in a colourful and ghoulish parade of fancy dress and puppetry. Most of the city's hotels and guesthouses were packed to capacity as thousands of visitors made their pilgrimage to Ireland's biggest annual street party.
But if Derry was the place to be last night, a Co Meath author has claimed that Hallowe'en originated south of the Border, in Hill of Ward, just a mile outside Athboy. After four years of research, Mr John Gilroy - whose book on the subject is published this week, says the ancient Celtic Fire Festival began at Tlachtga, or the Hill of Ward, just a mile from Athboy.
The site is in a field, unexcavated, and without even a plaque to inform visitors of its important role in our ancestors' lives. Hallowe'en marks the start of the Celtic New Year and it was at Tlachtga that the great winter fire was lit at the onset of winter.