OCTOBER 31st HAPPY SAMHAIN'S EVE

2018

Samhain, 1st of November, was the major festival which marked the opening of winter in early medieval Ireland; it is sometimes spelt Samain or Samuin, although the pronunciation was the same. In Tochmarc Emire it is the first of four quarter days mentioned by the heroine Emer; 'Samhain, when the summer goes to its rest'. To the writer of this text, probably working in the tenth century, it was therefore the opposite to the time of Beltane, being the period at which the livestock had been gathered in from the summer pastures and the cold and confined season was setting in for human and farm animal.

Those who seek difficult to explain phenomena such as UFOs have no need to scan the skies or explore haunted castles. Such mysteries can be encountered by those who read history books.

Yearbook of Balkan and Baltic Studies, 2020

Like in many countries of Europe, the 1st of February (Imbolk, the Brigid’day) in Ireland marks the beginning of Spring and is connected with some fertility rites. In old rural Ireland the people spent time watching hedgehogs (to see one was a good weather sign), preparing and eating special food, making straw girdles and caps, putting red ribbons on their houses (Brat Bride ‘Brigit’s cloak’), making special Brigit’s crosses and straw dolls, called Brideog, to visit a sacred spring which had a magic healing and anti-sterile power (wells and springs, worshiped in pagan Ireland, were prohibited by St. Patrick), and finally singing protective charms. In modern urban Ireland all these rites remind in the past, but the Brigid’day is not forgotten or abandoned. In this article, the author tries to outline three main ‘tracks’ of the old tradition: 1. Pseudo-folkloric (fake-lore): singing, dancing, making crosses, storytelling etc. 2. Pseudo (Vernacular)-Catholic: early mass and pilgrimages...

2018

The Winter Solstice is upon us in the Northern Hemisphere. Marking the longest night and shortest day of the year, the hibernal solstice is an astronomical event that takes place when the Earth reaches its maximum tilt on its axis away from the sun. (At the same time, residents of the Southern Hemisphere are enjoying their longest day and shortest night). These calendrical milestones have long shaped human activities and annual cycles. Peoples all over the world have long revered this annual astronomical occurrence as a time to bid farewell to lengthy, dark nights and to welcome the impending return of the sun.

Perspective Digest, 2009

The Web, 2016

The ancient, Celtic year began at Samhain, where we now observe All Hallow's Eve and Witch’s New Year. This was the occasion of the Pleiades constellation rising from the horizon, and marked the final harvest activities (in the Northern Hemisphere) of winnowing, beer brewing, late wine, preserving of foods, storage of goods and staples, and the preparation of domestic animals for stabling over the winter months. It also marked the occasion of acknowledging the dead, the ancestors, their contributions for good or ill, and laying to rest regressive influences - or ‘ghosts.’ The theme of Samhain is death/rebirth, and the activity is that of "composting" the old, in order that its energy be released into new and vital forms. Samhain was celebrated as "New Years" by the pre-Romanized Celts, and the festival is called ‘Witches' New Year’ by modern practitioners of the Old Religion. Samhain began the first month of the Celtic lunar calendar, with Birch month (Celtic/Gaelic Beith).

online, 2021

In hAmanar Colighnu ach in Blédhn Nói Celthach: Athanséru. /// The Coligny Calendar and the Celtic New Year: An Analysis. Abstract /// Edhichléthan A linguistic and historical analysis of the names of the months of the Coligny calendar reveals that they contain information regarding the seasons they were to be situated in. This is compared to data extrapolated from historical calendars from the other Celtic countries. It is found that an archaic division of the year in two seasons, summer and winter, was shared across all the calendars examined. The equation of Gaulish Samon with Irish Samhain is questioned, examined closely and found to be false. An investigation of the arguments which have historically led to an identification of the Irish festival of Samhain and its modern counterpart All Saints' Eve with a presumed former concept of a pan-Celtic New Year found that this identification was erroneous. Instead the data strongly indicates that the start of the Celtic new year, as illustrated by the Coligny calendar, took place around the start of what is now the month of May, and was associated with what is now generally referred to as May Day celebrations, known in an Irish context as Bealtaine and in a Welsh context as Calan Haf. Dicheltha athanséru tenguchwidhíach ach spathlamanach anúé mísé in hamanar Colighnu o delgha sí berwénu am shonchingé o ré ví sí eradháthu enís. Esi sin cosáthu can verwénu dichléthu e hamanáré 'pathlamanach e in bróié Celthach al. Esi í uríthu o bú coraníthu ran goth in blédhn en dhá sonching, sam ach gíam, tré in hamanáré hol hathéchoserwíthu. Esi pethaníthu swéian Samon Galáthach can Shamhain Éirach, esi í hathéchoserwíthu in nhes, ach esi í uríthu bis ancherth. Ré húri ensáithl urgharúé o duchíthu sí in 'pathlamanach a 'wéian lith Éirach Samhain ach ó rhan'ur haiedhnú Nesnóith Cádhé Ol can goménu cinach covuríthu Blédhn Nói Celthach Ol o bú in 'wéian-sin hancherth. Enwái gwerchalgha in berwénu in nherthach o ré chwéri dianthu in blédhn nói Celthach, co chwerlóchwíthu tar in hamanar Colighnu, am dhianthu sé och esi í in wís Mái nú, ach o bú í nesconathú can shé och esi í nú atheverthu adhí in goranach co lhitháné Dí Mái, gníthu en gleth Éirach co Vealtaine ach en gleth Comróich co Galan Haf.

" Bonfire Night " , or Oíche Fhéile Eóin (" Saint John's Night "), has been observed in parts of Ireland for centuries. The earliest documentary evidence of the lighting of bonfires on the eve of the feast, 23 June, dates to the 17 th century. The custom was so important that it gave rise to the appellation " Bonfire Night ". In the west of the country, and elsewhere, such as in Cork city, bonfire celebrations seem strong even recently. However, to survive, they must kaleidoscopically adapt to ever-changing circumstances. Drawing on a range of sources – from the unpublished replies to National Folklore Collection (NFC) questionnaires, to twenty-first century local newspapers, and to fieldwork undertaken in 2008 – three major changes in this custom have been identified: the material allowed in the fires, the commercialisation of bonfires, and the withdrawal of a certain part of the population from the festivities. The article will explore complementary reasons behind these trends.

The pre-Christian Irish ritual year was, in ancient times, divided into two major seasons, and the juncture points of these divisions, called Samhain and Bealtaine, were considered to be especially potent times for enacting protective magic. The historical development of St. Martin’s Day in Ireland, and its relationship with the more ancient festival of Samhain is examined, revealing circumstances that saw much of the ritual nature of Samhain being adopted within a Christian context in the medieval period. Consideration is also given to the festival of Bealtaine, at the other end of the year, revealing commonalities in terms of ritual, magic and prophylaxis.

Treat or Trick? Halloween in a Globalising World, 2009

The present chapter is a description of the festival of Samhain as celebrated by neo-pagans. It concentrates on the significance of the festival within neo-pagan worldview and documents some of the beliefs surrounding this time of year. It illustrates how contemporary pagans pick certain traditional cultural elements associated with the pre-modern folk celebration of Samhain and merge these together with references to the Celtic past to fashion a new festival of Samhain that is inimitably part of neo-pagan culture.