Tlachtga Samhain Fire FestivalTorch lit procession from the Fair Green in Athboy, Co. Meath to the Hill of

Tlachtga.Starting at 7:30pm on October 31st.

The Celtic ceremony at Tlachtga has been revived, mixing the ancient past and the twenty-first century with a re-enactment of the Celtic celebration starting with a torch lit procession from the Fair Green in Athboy, Co. Meath to the top of the Hill of Tlachtga, at 7:30pm on October 31st.

Samhain, the ancient Celtic Festival that we now call Halloween, originated at Tlachtga (Hill of Ward) in Co. Meath more than 2,000 years ago. Samhain marks the end of the old Celtic Year and the beginning of the New Year. The Celts believed that this was a time of transition, when the veil between our world and the next came down, and the spirits of all who had died since the last Oíche Shamhna (Night of Samhain) moved on to the next life.

One of the main spiritual centres of the ancient Celts was located on top of the hill of Tlachtga, now called theHill of Ward, near Athboy, Co. Meath. The druids felt that this world and the otherworld were closest at Tlachtgaand it was here that the festival of Samhain, or Halloween, was started. The old year’s fires were extinguished and, after sunset, the ceremonial New Year Samhain fire was lit here. Torches were lit from this sacred fire andcarried to seven other hills around the county including Tara and Loughcrew, and then on to light up the whole countryside.

The Irish and Scottish Celts who travelled to America, brought their traditions with them and popularised Halloween – it is now the second biggest festival in the western world.

Tlachtga where the Great Fire Festival at Samhain was celebrated

Halloween / SamhainView Repeats

When: Wednesday, 31 October 2012 (All day)

31st October - The Samhain festival marked the end of summer and the beginning of winter in the

Celtic calendar, and is one of the four Celtic fire festivals - the quarter points in the solar year. It

marked the point in the year were a time of plenty gave way to more lean times, in all probability

the reason for its association with dread and eeriness. Traditionally it is when the gates of the

otherworld are open, a time when dark forces are abroad in the realm of humans.

In the old Celtic calendar Halloween - or more correctly Samhain - was actually the beginning of the

New Year, and the preparation for the coming hardship of winter. All the animals that were not

breeding stock were slaughtered, and their meat salted and stored for the dark months. As one of

the most important celebrations of the year, a great feast was held, and bonfires were lit throughout

the countryside.

The festival was also a time when fertility played an important

factor in the future well-being of a community. Animals were mated, and good breeding stock

selected. This fertility aspect is reflected in legends passed down from the Celts. In Irish mythology

the god Dhaghda made love to the Morrigan on Samhain eve, while she straddled the river Unius, in

a symbolic union of the god of light and the goddess of death as the year turns towards darkness. Cu

Chulainn also had Halloween relations, and Halloween was the date when Aengus found his

otherworld maiden in the guise of a swan.

There may have been a more sinister side to the festival in Celtic times, and Caesar mentions

human sacrifices during the four festivals of the year. Although Roman propaganda accounts can

now be seen as biased, there is no smoke without fire, and evidence suggests ritual human sacrifice

was practiced in the past. There is a tradition of the death of the sacrificial king at Samhain, and

some of the darker customs of Halloween may disguise older practices. In some parts of Scotland,

white stones marked to represent those present were thrown into the halloween fire, these had to be

retrieved later, or evil was supposed to befall the person who could not find their stone. At Calander

in Scotland, stones were placed in the ashes of the fire and left until morning. If they were displaced

it spelt certain doom for the owner of the stone. Fraser in his book The Golden Bough, mentions the

choosing of a sacrificial victim by the means of specially baked cakes, and in some regions small

cakes were traditionally baked at Halloween; in England they were known as Soul cakes, eaten by all

family members; and in Ireland they were known as barm brack cakes, which often contained lucky

and unlucky objects of a divinatory nature.

The festival was also associated with the dead, and with remembering the ancestors. It was

customary in some areas to leave an empty chair and a platter of foods for the invisible guests, so

that they would not be offended. The witching hour was seen as the time when the departed

returned, and silence was often kept for a short time in their honour - as the chimes of midnight rang

out.

In the North of Scotland, Halloween was when the blue-faced hag of winter, theCailleach Bheur

was reborn with the coming of the winter snows. She was then the guardian of winter until the return

of Summer on Beltane. She exists in many folk tales and may be a denuded form of a widely

worshipped goddess. It was also customary to dedicate the last sheaf of corn from the harvest to

her. This was moulded into a feminine shape and named the Carlin or the Cailleach.

With many of the rural communities entrenched in the old ways, the church decreed that November

the 1st should be known as All Saints' Day (this happened in 835AD), and All Souls' Day was moved

to the 2nd of November. Thus the 31st of October became All Saints' Eve, or all Hallows' Eve, with

older customs and beliefs surviving until the present day.

The tradition of a bonfire celebration lasted longer in some rural areas than in others. At Fortingall in

Perthshire, a fire was held on a Bronze Age burial mound until the early part of the 20th century. The

local community danced around the fire while it was in full blaze, and then returned home for

traditional Halloween games. This took place on the 11th of November, the time of Halloween

(Samhain) in the old calendar.

Today the customs of Halloween are reflections on the deeper meaning of the festival to our

ancestors. In the modern world, the changing of the seasons are not as important to our livelihood

as it would have been hundreds of years ago, and the festival has become heavily commercialised.

However, Halloween is great fun for thousands of children and will hopefully continue to be enjoyed,

despite some calls from church leaders to have it banned.

Some Halloween CustomsIn parts of Scotland it was customary to throw a silver coin through the front door of the house on

the morning of November the 1st. The coin had to remain hidden where it had fallen to bring luck in

money matters concerning the house.

The Halloween pumpkin originates from the custom of using lanterns to ward off the evil spirits,

which were thought to wander through the thin veil into our world.

In some areas it was customary to throw a stone with a personal mark on it into the ashes of the fire.

These had to be retrieved to ensure luck for the coming year.

If a young woman wanted to get a glimpse of her future husband, all she had to do was sit looking at

her reflection in a mirror by candlelight at midnight, with an apple in her hand. Hopefully she would

see the image of her future husband looking back at her from the mirror.

Hazelnuts were also used in husband divination, to denote a future love each of the nuts would be

given the name of a possible lover and placed in front of the fire, the hopeful young lady would then

recite "If you love me, pop and fly; and if you hate me burn and die." The first nut to pop would be

the girls' likely suitor.

Another method of providing clues to a future spouse was to throw a fully peeled apple skin over the

shoulder. This would then spell out the initial of her future lover.

Apples were also used in one of the better-known traditions that of Apple Bobbing. This game

consisted of a large barrel of water in which a number of apples were floated, each participant then

had to attempt to grab an apple using only their teeth, which inevitably led to a soaking. In another

version, an apple and a lighted candle were placed on either end of a stick balanced in the middle

and suspended from the ceiling by a piece of string. This was then spun, and those playing the game

had to attempt to bite the apple without getting burned - a rather more painful fate than a good

soaking!

The night was also a time for prophetic dreaming, again often to discover future husbands. This link

with ongoing fertility may date back to when the festival was also a time for cattle to be mated for

spring births.

As a time of change it was also a time of throwing out all the old associations that have passed their

usage. On a personal level these were written down on a piece of paper and burned in an act of

cleansing.

Some Halloween Hauntings

Halloween has always thought to be a good time to see the denizens of the spirit world, which is why

few people ventured out of doors after dusk in more superstitious times. There are many hauntings

that have a Halloween significance, some of these are listed below:

Spynie Palace, Morayshire

At Spynie Palace near Elgin -now a ruin - the bishop was thought to be a practitioner of black magic,

and it was at Halloween when the local witches were said to fly to St David's Tower filling the air with

unearthly music and light.

Minsden Chapel, Hertfordshire

At Minsden Chapel in Hertfordshire the ghost of a monk is said to walk through the ruined arch,

heralded by the peel of a bell.

Newton Castle, Perthshire

The apparition of the Green Lady of Newton Castle is said to be most likely to appear at Halloween,

her gravestone is also meant to turn around three times.

Armboth House and Thirlmere Lake, Cumbria

Armboth House was haunted following the drowning of the household's daughter on Halloween, the

night before her wedding day. The house now lies submerged beneath Thirlmere resevoir, but it is

said that the sound of bells can still be heard, and a ghostly dog is said to swim in Thirlmere Lake

(where she was murdered).

Cliviger Gorge, Lancashire

A ghostly huntsman and his hound are said to appear.

References

Folklore Myths and Legends of Britain, Readers Digest

What Witches Do, Stewart Farrar

Celtic Gods and Goddesses, R. J. Stewart

The Golden Bough, James Frazer

Fire Festivals, A. McLean

English Festivals, L. Whistler

Practical Magic in the Northern Tradition, Nigel Pennick

Halloween: Another Successful Irish ExportOct 15, 20108 Commentsby Orla Grant

Now you all know us Irish are humble to the bone, and are loath to ever mention our accomplishments.

Londonderry parades the streets for Halloween

So naturally you know we’d hate to make a fuss, or call attention to ourselves, but we thought we’d

quietly point out that the holiday coming up on the 31st October, the second biggest celebration in the

Western world, you know, Halloween…

Well, [flicks dust off shoulders and shrugs nonchalantly] we invented it.

See, Halloween actually originated from the 2,000 year-old Celtic Festival of Samhain, as Dublin

schoolteacher and Celtic civilisation buff Eric explains:

The word ‘Samhain’ comes from the Old Irish language meaning ‘end of summer’.

The Pagan Irish worshipped the natural cycle of life with emphasis on solar and lunar

cycles and the changing of the seasons. They believed that on Samhain the veil

between this world and the next was at its weakest and the spirits of dead ancestors

could pass through.

Those crazy Celts had some eccentric ways of celebrating too:

The Celts wore costumes (probably animal heads and skins), to disguise themselves

as evil spirits and avoid a spectral kidnapping by the real harmful spirits who were

out prowling. Huge bonfires were lit to help guide the friendly spirits.

Some Halloween costumes still ward off harmful spirits,

and passers-by

But how did Samhain become Halloween? Well, the seventh century saw Christianity influence the

festival when All Saints’ Day or All-hallows, a day to honour saints and martyrs, was declared for

November 1st. This made the night before it All-hallows Eve, which morphed to Halloween.

Of course you don’t invent a holiday without games. Eric tells me that the practice of ‘trick or treat’ may

have derived from the rural practice of neighbours playing tricks on each other by moving cattle to

different fields or stealing items from their houses for the night.

You may be surprised to learn the origin of the innocent ‘bobbing for apples’ as well:

Bobbing for apples actually originated from a divination game played by young men

and women. You catch an apple with your teeth, peel the apple, throw the peeling

over your shoulder, and the resulting shape of the peel will resemble a letter of the

alphabet and also the first letter of your future true love.

So as you can see, we’ve been perfecting this little holiday for quite a while, just for the rest of the

world to enjoy. Yes, you’re all very welcome.

In our typically humble and modest way, we host oodles of Halloween festivals around the country

every year, with parades, fireworks, storytelling and general mayhem and mischief, to celebrate our

spirit-fearing, party-loving ancestors.

Remnants of these ancient Celtic practices are often referenced in these fine festivities though. The

Hill of Ward nearby Athboy in County Meath is, as myth has it, where the tradition of Samhain’s

bonfires began. Eric enlightens us:

Eric with his torch at the ‘Spirit of Meath’

Halloween festival

Sacred Bonfires were lit on the Hill of Ward (called Tlachtga by the Celts) to mark the

passing of the Celtic year, and carried to seven other hills in the area. It is believed

that this evolved into a practice of people carrying the fire from the larger bonfires

home to their own hearths to sanctify the home.

That magical scene is recreated every year at the Spirit of Meath festival with a torch-lit procession

from the Fair Green in Athboy, County Meath to the top of the Hill of Tlachtga, every October 31st.

Londonderry’s Banks of the Foyle Halloween Carnival is a typical modern celebration with fireworks

and parades, but you’ll also find versions of ancient traditions among the scary movie showings and

ghostbuster tours. There’s bobbing for apples and pumpkin carving – which originated from the myth

of Jack O’Lantern, who made a pact with the devil leading him to spend the afterlife constantly walking

through the night with only a burning coal in a turnip to light the way. There’s plenty of storytelling too –

which the Celts loved doing on Samhain as they thought with all the spirits buzzing around, the Celtic

priests could make predictions about the future.

So what do Eric’s kids make of their teacher’s stories about Ireland’s spookiest holiday export?

Eric celebrating Halloween (he assured us he does not dress

as Elvis in the classroom)

I do recount the history of Halloween with the children but it’s the dressing up that is

always the number one priority for them; they ask me as early as September when

they’ll be making their Halloween masks. There’s a great sense of fun in donning the

costume that both adults and kids enjoy.

I think for everyone Halloween is really the ultimate means of releasing your inner

child.

And for that, you know who to thank.

There are tons of spooky special events being celebrated all around the island of Ireland for

Halloween. Scare yourself silly with what’s in store.

Londonderry’s Banks of the Foyle Hallowe’en Festival takes place from 27 – 31 October 2012.

Samhain (Samain) - The Celtic roots of Halloween

Tlachtga where the Great Fire Festival at Samhain was celebrated.

As millions of children and adults participate in the fun of Halloween on the night of October 31st, few will be aware of its ancient Celtic roots in the Samhain (Samain) festival. In Celtic Ireland about 2,000 years ago, Samhain was the division of the year between the lighter half (summer) and the darker half (winter). At Samhain the division between this world and the otherworld was at its thinnest, allowing spirits to pass through.

The family's ancestors were honoured and invited home whilst harmful spirits were warded off. People wore costumes and masks to disguise themselves as harmful spirits and thus avoid harm. Bonfires and food played a large part in the festivities. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into a communal fire, household fires were extinguished and started again from the bonfire. Food was prepared for the living and the dead, food for the ancestors who were in no position it eat it, was ritually shared with the less well off.

Christianity incorporated the honouring of the dead into the Christian calendar with All Saints (All Hallows) on November 1st, followed by All Souls on November 2nd. The wearing of costumes and masks to ward off harmful spirits survived as Halloween customs. The Irish emigrated to America in great numbers during the 19th century especially around the time of famine in Ireland during the 1840's. The Irish carried their Halloween traditions to America, where today it is one of the major holidays of the year. Through time other traditions have blended into Halloween, for example the American harvest time tradition of carving pumpkins.

Two hills in the Boyne Valley were associated with Samhain in Celtic Ireland, Tlachtga and Tara. Tlachtga was the location of the Great Fire Festival which begun on the eve of Samhain (Halloween). Tara was also associated with Samhain, however it was secondary to Tlachtga in this respect.

The entrance passage to the Mound of the Hostages on the Hill of Tara is aligned with the rising sun around Samhain. The Mound of the Hostages is 4,500 to 5000 years old, suggesting that Samhain was celebrated long before the first Celts arrived in Ireland about 2,500 years ago.

Celtic Earth Works on the Hill of Tara

The Diwali FestivalThe Hindu Diwali (Divali, Deepavali) Festival known as the Festival of Lights occurs about the same time as Samhain. Diwali marks the Hindu New Year just as Samhain marks the Celtic New Year, could it be that Diwali and Samhain have a common root in antiquity?

Samhain / HalloweenAn excerpt from Tlachtga: Celtic Fire Festival by John Gilroy.The Festival of Samhain marked the end of the Celtic year and the beginning of the new one and as such can be seen to the equivalent of New Year's Eve. We have seen how the Celts believed that night preceded day and so the festivities took place on the Eve of Samhain. There is no doubt that that this festival was the most important of the four Celtic Festivals. Samhain was a crucial time of year, loaded with symbolic significance for the pre-Christian Irish. The celebrations at Tlachtga may have had their origins in a fertility rite on the hill but it gathered to itself a corpus of other beliefs which crystallised at the great Fire Festival.The perceptible, and apparent, decline in the strength of the sun at this time of year was a source of anxiety for early man and the lighting of the Winter Fires here symbolised mans attempt to assist the sun on its journey across the skies. Fire is the earthly counterpart of the sun and is a powerful and appropriate symbol to express mans helplessness in the face of the overwhelming sense of the decay of nature as the winter sets in.Now the sun has descended into the realm of the underworld, the forces of the underworld were in the ascendency. The lord of the underworld, unfettered from the control of the sun, now walked the earth and with him travelled all those other creatures from the abode of the dead. Ghosts, fairies and a host of other non-descript creatures went with him. The Lord of the Dead in Celtic mythology can be identified as Donn.Mythology tells us that when the invaders of Ireland known as the Miliseans landed at the Boyne, they made their way to Tara. Once there, they were advised by the Druids that they should return to their ships and sail off the shore to the length of nine waves. When they were on the sea a great storm arose which scattered their fleet. The commander of one of the ships was Donn. His ship was broken to pieces in the storm and he himself

drowned along with twenty four of his comrades. He was buried on the Skellig Islands off the coast of Kerry.He is the first of the new wave of invaders to meet his death in Ireland and, as such, he became elevated to the status of god of the dead. The place of his burial became known as Tech Donn - The house of Donn, and soon became identified with with the otherworld. The Celts were fascinated with tracing their ancestry back as far as they could and often they identified their earliest ancestors with the gods of their peoples. Hence, a belief arose that when they died they went to the house of their ancestor, the god of the otherworld.It is interesting to note that the abode of Donn, on the Skellig Islands, is just a few miles from the traditional home of Mog Ruith at Valentia Island. As well as being geographical neighbours, both are closely associated with Samhain, when it can be said that Mog Ruith as sungod sojourns at the realm of the underworld, the abode of Donn.Donn is seen as a retiring god who prefers the isolation of the bleak Skelligs and remains aloof from the other gods. His name means "brown" and he is associated with the shadowy realm of the dead. O'hOgain tells us that a ninth century text attributes a highly significant quotation to him "To me, to my house, you shall come after your death"Many other sources say that the dead assemble at his house and describe deceased people travelling to and from here. Fishermen in the area were wont to hear strange boats passing to the island at night and the names of those who disembarked were called out. Later Christian writers claimed that the souls of the damned lingered at his house before departing for hell. Not surprisingly, aspects of his personage have been adapted by Christian writers in their portrayal of the devil.Samhain being the feast of the dead can now be clearly seen as incorporating the cult of Donn into its celebrations but how they did so remains uncertain. The Fires were in all likelihood lit in honour of the sungod - here manifesting as Mog Ruith, but certain other of the trappings are clearly associated with the Lord of the Dead. The idea that Samhain is a juncture between the two halves of the year saw it acquiring the unique status of being suspended in time - it did not belong to the old year not the new. It could be said that time stood still on this night and the implications of this were immense. During this night the natural order of life was thrown into chaos and the earthly world of the living became hopelessly entangled with the world of the dead. But the world of the dead was itself a complicated place, peopled not only by the spirits of the departed, but also with a host of gods, fairies and other creatures of uncertain nature.The unwary traveller, caught away from home on this night, could expect to encounter any one or many of these creatures and it was always advisable to stay indoors. Ghosts were everywhere and may or may not have been harmful to the living. It is interesting to note that the manuscripts tells us that all fires in the country must be extinguished on this night and could only be relit from the great flames from Tlachtga. This, of course, is not to taken literally but symbolised the brief and temporary ascendency of the powers of darkness at this time of year.During this period all the world was in darkness and the dead were abroad. When the fire at Tlachtga was lit, it gave the signal that all was well and all other fires could now be relit. The fires at Talchtga were the public celebration of the victory of light, while the relighting of the household fire marked the domestic celebration of the feast. Now the spirits of dead ancestors could be welcomed back into the home with safety and posed no threat to the household. This theme is repeated constantly in Irish literature. MacCollugh tells us that the cult of the dead culminated at the family health. Very often the spirits of ancestors sought warmth around the fireside on this night. Fires were left lighting in the grate to warm the spirits and food was left out for them. Even though the ancestral ghosts were benign, it was still a good idea to avoid them by going to bed early.However, the ghosts may not have been entirely benign. They needed some sort of appeasement in the form of ritual offerings on this night. So long as the offering was forthcoming the ghosts were happy and benevolent, but if the offering was withheld another side of the ghosts features were presented. Bad luck would descend on the household and all would not be well the coming year. Some vestiges of this tradition may survived in the modern Halloween custom of "trick or treat". Children, dressed as ghosts and witches, invite the household to make a donation or face the consequences. The

'treat' may represent the ritual offering while the 'trick', nowadays a harmless prank, may have in antiquity, represented the malevolent consequences of inadequately appeasing the ancestral ghost on this night.But it was not just time that was dislocated at Samhain. Just as the festival stands on the boundary between Summer and Winter, all other boundaries were in danger at this time. The boundaries between a mans land and his neighbours were a dangerous place to be on this night. Ghosts were to be found along these points and a style between adjacent land was a place of particular dread and best avoided. Bridges and crossroads were also likely places to encounter ghosts. Naturally enough, burial places were avoided on all nights but particularly on this night. Every sort of a ghost was to be seen here and the dead mingled freely with the living.The practice of divination - telling the future, was an important part of everyday life for the Celts and it is certain that this art formed a central part of the festivities occurred at Tlachtga at Samhain. Vestiges of this can be seen today at Halloween are familiar with the practice of going to the church at midnight on Halloween and standing in the porch. The courageous observer will see the spirits of those who will die in the coming year if he watches closely, but runs the risk of meeting himself. Similarity, girls watching in a mirror on this night will see the image of the man they will marry but also run the risk of seeing the devil.Those brave enough to go to a grave yard at midnight and walk three times around the graves will be offered a glimpse the future but again run the risk of meeting the devil. This latter example is interesting as it preserves the three time sunwise turn so important to the Celts in the ritual. The possibility of meeting the devil may represent the well known Christian attempt to associate the pagan god of the dead with the devil of Christian belief. This being the case, Donn the Lord of the Dead, left his island home on this night and travelled freely throughout the country. Whether he carried off souls is unclear, but it is likely that he did. The ritual offerings on the Winter Fires may have been an attempt to appease him until, such time in history, he was replaced on the arrival of Christianity by the devil.The early Irish manuscripts are littered with references to the magical significance of Samhain. It marked the end of the fighting and hunting season for the warrior troop known as the Fianna. At Samhain they retreated into winter camp, quartering themselves on the general population until the return of Summer at Beltainne. Fionn MacCumhail chose Samhain as the time to present himself before the court at Tara for the first time, while it was also at Samhain that the god Lugh made his dramatic entrance to the same court. The Connaught queen, Meave, waited until Samhain before setting out on the great Cattle Raid of Cooley.Fionn MacCumhail, Lugh and Cuchulainn - Meave's opponent, are the three great figures of Irish mythology and it is interesting to note how Samhain is the time chosen by the writers to introduce their arrival on the scene. The Battle of Mag Tuired (supposedly in County Mayo) was fought at Samhain. It seems that when the early writers wish to impart a magical quality to the events they are depicting, they choose the Festival of Samhain for the occasion. There remains little doubt that Samhain held a central place in the imagination of the Celts, where the festivities associated with several local gods became entangled, over the course of perhaps a thousand years, with the feast of the god of the dead. Remnants of these celebrations have come down to us in our own celebrations of Halloween.An excerpt from Tlachtga: Celtic Fire Festival by John Gilroy.

Ancient cultures such as the Neolithic (Stone Age) people who build Newgrange in Ireland aligned their monuments to the major solar events, the Winter Solstice, the Spring Equinox, the Summer Solstice and theAutumn Equinox. The solar year was further divided to mark the half way points between the major solar events giving the cross quarter days of Imbolc, Beltane, Lughnasadh and Samhain.