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Commonwealth Museum   Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin
Commonwealth Museum Secretary of the Commonwealth William Francis Galvin

An Irish Connection

Rannpháirtí anaithnid at English Wikipedia
Rannpháirtí anaithnid
- English Wikipedia
Some of these customs had echoes in colonial America, although not in Massachusetts.
The Puritans would take a dim view of Halloween and it origins. It was different in other colonies. Anglican and Lutheran churches observed All Saints Day, as did Maryland’s Catholic population. In the south, “Scotch Irish” settlers sometimes dressed in costumes on Halloween. (These were Scottish settlers who had lived in Northern Ireland.) They called the custom “guising.” – derived from wearing disguises.