Today, Halloween is upon us. The ancient Celtic roots are just underfoot at Samhain (summer's end) as we tread across the threshold from the light half of the year to the dark half, a time of fire and ice, hearth and home. Explore some roots and traditions below and enjoy your celebrations.
May your All Hallows Eve be safe, joyous & macabre.
I'll be filling packages with extra Emerald Post treats for all purchases made today, Halloween, or tomorrow, All Saints Day. Hope over to the Etsy Shop to browse.
Happy Samhain!
For your enjoyment...some scenes from Greyfriars Kirkyard, Edinburgh, Scotland...
On All Hallows Eve, the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, it is thought that the spirits of the dead can return to earth, that the threshold between the living and the dead is thin and can be crossed by spirits. Otherworldly creatures like goblins, faeries, banshees are also free to cross between the veil of this world and the other. Because all manner of spirits are roaming on All Hallows Eve, it became prudent to don a mask or costume, to dress up like a spirit of the dead in hopes of escaping their notice, offering protection by camouflage so to speak.
Many Halloween traditions are rooted in the belief that the souls of the departed are able to return during the last night of the Celtic Year. In addition to dressing up and lighting a bonfire to repel evil spirits, it was also customary to leave food out for the benevolent spirits of your departed ancestors who might visit in the night. Some folks also left food outside of their home, perhaps by a faerie hawthorn bush, to appease the faeries and other mischievous creatures.
The Halloween rite of trick-or-treat has its humble beginnings in the traditions called Souling. Children would go door to door, often dressed up as the departed dead, singing songs & asking for cakes (called soul-cakes) or other food or money, in return for saying a prayer for the souls of the dead. Below is rendition by Sting of a folk song which depicts this tradition....
As the nights grow longer, colder, and dark settles in, it is fitting that we welcome this time of year with light, with heat, with flame - with a Bonfire. It is an ancient Celtic custom, which still persists today in parts of Ireland & Britain, for people to extinguish the fires burning at home in their hearths. Then the community gathers for the lighting of a large Samhain fire. All Hallows Eve is considered to be a liminal night - meaning that the veil between this world and the Otherworld is thin and spirits, goblins, and mischievous faeries are thought to be active. The ritual fire is thought to ward off bad luck and malevolent spirits. Sometime folks cast objects into the flames, representing personal prayers. When returning home, folks would take embers from the bonfire back home to reignite their hearth fires. Where once you might have seen fires near and far across the countryside like constellations, you might now just see one like a beacon in the night.
Visit Scotland has the most amazing EBOOK up now exploring many myths, legends, & hauntings all across the Highlands and beyond to get you in the Halloween spirit. All with great stories, illustrations, maps & more for each story like the one above of the Headless Drummer of Edinburgh Castle. This ebook is seriously spooktacularly awesome. Visit Scotland also has a pretty killer Instagram. Happy Hauntings.
Mural in a constructions zone in Kilkenny, Ireland
Tourism Ireland is joining in the Halloween festivities with some local hauntings. Check out their website HERE and a super Instagram page HERE. In a country as ancient as Ireland, there are sure to be more than a few spirits (whiskey included 😉 ). The only place below that I've visited from the Hauntings below is that lovely arched bridge on the River Nore in Inistioge but it was beautiful and idyllic when I was there, nothing spooky about it. HERE is another article about some famous haunted places. Explore More Irish Halloween HERE.
In the Celtic Isles, many of the old ways persist, remnants
of traditions from centuries ago are still loyally preserved or else they’ve
been distilled into common traditions whose roots lie hidden under the moss and
leaf litter of time. Peek behind the gauzy curtains of Halloween and we can
trace these old ways, see the persistence of age old traditions and uncover the
roots of our most common Halloween ways.
Ancient Celtic Wheel of the Year - The Four Festival Days: Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane, & Lunasa
and the 4 Cross Quarter Days arranged by the suns positions: Winter Solstice, Spring Equinox, Summer Solstice, & Autumn Equinox
The ancient Celtic calendar was a wheel which turned little
by little through the seasons until it rolled right back around to Halloween or
Samhain as it was called. Samhain in Irish is pronounced SOW-EN and it means
summer’s end. It marks the end of the Celtic Year and so also the New Year. It
is a threshold, when crossed one passes from the summery light half, to the
wintry dark half. And entering the cold dark half has a lot to do with why
Samhain, Halloween, is associated with dark things. The sun grows cold and the
trees shed their final golden leaves, plant wither to grey then they are gone,
animals prepare for long winter sleep. Food and warmth are scarce. The harvest
has been stored, the wood gathered, and folks, too, prepare for the season of
Earth’s sleep. Because Samhain, summer’s end, is traditionally a festival day,
there are many folk traditions and rituals that accompany it. We'll explore those next...
Autumn has rolled in and Halloween is just around the corner, beyond the mist and fog. Send some Samhain greetings with this spooky postcard "Ancient Valley" - a view of the graves at Glendalough, Ireland. $2.50 each or 6 for $10. Available now HERE .
