Talk:Hop-tu-Naa

Not Halloween ?

The statement "It is unrelated to Halloween" isn't strictly true.

Agreed Hop-tu-Naa isn't Halloween, but it is born from the same Celtic roots that Halloween grew from. Junius 20:23, 1 January 2007 (UTC)

Yes, this statement is ludicrous: "Predating Halloween" - actually no, it doesn't.--MacRùsgail (talk) 19:02, 8 November 2012 (UTC)

Hup-tu-naa is clearly y nonsense phrase, which is common in Irish, Manx and Scottish Gaelic singing, a bit like singing, la la la, or 'shoo bop, shoo bob', the name of the festival in Manx was Oie Houney which is the exact same as the Irish, Oíche Shamnha (the pronunciation is the same) and the same as the Scottish Gaelic Oidhche Shamhna. These traditions collectively morphed in to what we now know as Halloween and as such they are clearly connected to it. Anyone who works in Folklore, as I used to do, would be able to demonstrate the connection very quickly. I have removed the claim that it predates Halloween as it is Halloween, even the song quoted on this page has, as its opening lines,

"Shoh shenn oie Houiney; Hop-tu-naa" This is old Samhain night, hup-tu-naa. Samhain being the Irish and Scottish for the night of Halloween and recognised as such in dictionaries. Now, we could argue that Halloween was a festival instituted by the Christian Church on the same night of Oíche Shamnhna with the intention of co-opting that festival, and that may be true, but it doesn't change the fact that modern Halloween as understood is directly derived from Oíche Shamhna (and Oie Houney and Oidhche Shamhna). — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.101.55.4 (talk) 23:13, 14 June 2018 (UTC)