dia duit,
what are ye doing on Samhain?

I will spend it in the forest, with some meat and my flute, and later at night I'm making a little fire... :)

What is Samhain? Is that the equivilent of American 'Halloween'?

Yes and no... it's kind of the predecessor...
Sin sc�al fada at� air... - There is quite a long story about it...

Samhain is the Irish name of the month of November. The October is called
"Deireadh na F�mhar" - "End of Autumn".

In the pre-christian celtic belief, on the night of samhain, in Old Irish called the Oidhche Shamhna (modern Irish would be O�che Shamhna, roughtly pronounced "eehe hawna") the border to the Otherworld vanished, and the dead could walk in this world again.

When the Romans made contact with the Celts, they added their feast of the dead to Samhain. The Christians subverted the recognition of Samhain to honor the saints, as All Saint's Day on November 1st and named October 31 as All Hallow's Eve. This latter became a secular holiday by the name of Hallowe'en. Although using different nomenclatures, all of these festivals and feasts are celebrating the accessibility, veneration, awe, and respect of the dead.

Samhain (Scots Gaelic: Samhuinn) literally means "summer's end." In Scotland and Ireland, Halloween is known as O�che Shamhna, while in Wales it is Nos Calan Gaeaf, the eve of the winter's calend, or first. With the rise of Christianity, Samhain was changed to Hallowmas, or All Saints' Day, to commemorate the souls of the blessed dead who had been canonized that year, so the night before became popularly known as Halloween, All Hallows Eve, or Hollantide. November 2nd became All Souls Day, when prayers were to be offered to the souls of all who the departed and those who were waiting in Purgatory for entry into Heaven. Throughout the centuries, pagan and Christian beliefs intertwine in a gallimaufry of celebrations from Oct 31st through November 5th, all of which appear both to challenge the ascendancy of the dark and to revel in its mystery.

Samhain marks one of the two great doorways of the Celtic year, for the Celts divided the year into two seasons: the light and the dark, at Beltane on May 1st and Samhain on November 1st. Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the beginning of a whole new cycle, just as the Celtic day began at night. For it was understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground. Whereas Beltane welcomes in the summer with joyous celebrations at dawn, the most magically potent time of this festival for the ancient Celts was November Eve, the night of October 31st, known today of course, as Halloween.

The pumpkin stems from another story, the legend of Jack O'Lantern...

The Irish brought the tradition of the Jack O'Lantern to America. But, the original Jack O'Lantern was not a pumpkin.The Jack O'Lantern legend goes back hundreds of years in Irish History. As the story goes, Stingy Jack was a miserable, old drunk who liked to play tricks on everyone: family, friends, his mother and even the Devil himself. One day, he tricked the Devil into climbing up an apple tree. Once the Devil climbed up the apple tree, Stingy Jack hurriedly placed crosses around the trunk of the tree. The Devil was then unable to get down the tree. Stingy Jack made the Devil promise him not to take his soul when he died. Once the devil promised not to take his soul, Stingy Jack removed the crosses and let the Devil down.

Many years later, when Jack finally died, he went to the pearly gates of Heaven and was told by Saint Peter that he was too mean and too cruel and had led a miserable and worthless life on earth. He was not allowed to enter heaven. He then went down to Hell and the Devil. The Devil kept his promise and would not allow him to enter Hell. Now Jack was scared and had nowhere to go but to wander about forever in the darkness between heaven and hell. He asked the Devil how he could leave as there was no light. The Devil tossed him an ember from the flames of Hell to help him light his way. Jack placed the ember in a hollowed out Turnip, one of his favorite foods which he always carried around with him whenever he could steal one. For that day onward, Stingy Jack roamed the earth without a resting place, lighting his way as he went with his "Jack O'Lantern".

On all Hallow's eve, the Irish hollowed out Turnips, rutabagas, gourds, potatoes and beets. They placed a light in them to ward off evil spirits and keep Stingy Jack away. These were the original Jack O'Lanterns. In the 1800's a couple of waves of Irish immigrants came to America. The Irish immigrants quickly discovered that Pumpkins were bigger and easier to carve out. So they used pumpkins for Jack O'Lanterns.


Well...
Sin mo sc�al is m� t� br�ag ann, b�odh! - This is my story, and if you find a lie in it, keep it!

I hope this bit of lore was a bit informative... ;)
So...

Samhain shona dhaoibh, a chairde! - Happy Halloween, friends!

Ehm... you really mean "meat"... or do you mean what we call "Met" in Germany... this would be "mead" then... Irish "m�d", if I'm right... dunno exactly...

But that reminds me of a medieaval christmas market in Germany, where I was to take care of a tavern, where we served hot mead, of course. And an old lady mistook the sign, and asked:"Gibt es auch Gr�nkohl zu dem hei�en Mett?"
(Dunno what's "Gr�nkohl" in English... it's a vegetable that is normally served with "Mettwurst", a kind of meat sausage...) Here again, she meant the meat, not the mead... ;)

Me and "Belfast" band will go to St.Petersbourg to perform in a big musical "Samhain" festival.
Oh, me poor liver & kidneys!!!

A She�in...

have fun there then.... ;) I guess you will...


Oh, and I will spend Samhain with my band as well... but we're off-duty... just meeting with some friends and celebrating... but I guess my liver will have lots of work to do as well... ;)

Roidsear, I thought of "Met" and wanted to write "mead" but wrote "meat"... :wacko:

Sean, I saw an interesting T-shirt at the Irish festival in Milwaukee this summer. It read "The Liver is Evil and must be Punished" :D
Happy SAMHAIN everyone

Hi!

Still nothing certain, but some friends and I may be going out for a drink, as nobody feels in the mood to host a party... dunno why... we're always good guest and clean after ourselves :lol: Someone mentioned going out for the night, like we used to do... but it seems we're growing old and either becoming a little more respectful for our livers or growing tired :lol:

Anyway... enjoy yourselves! :)

Sl�n,
Keltic_banshee