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VOLUME 2, NUMBER 8
'BE A PART OF THE CELTIC WAVE'
OCTOBER 1992
Festivities to Fight Off Fears
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THE CELTIC^ NEW YEAR
By CAROL READ
P
erhaps the biggest Celtic festival of the _j year is neither St. Patrick's nor Robbie Burns' Day but Hallowe'en, which marks the eve of the Celtic New Year. The traditions of Hallowe'en go back thousands of years and are a deep expression of Celtic culture.
Before October 31 was Christianized into All Hallow's Eve, or Hallowe'en, it was Samhain (sow-in), which is also the Celtic name for the month of November. The Celts harvested the last crops of Samhain; they considered anything left in the field on November 1 to have been blighted by hobgoblins in the night.
By Samhain, the Celts had to calculate how hard the winter would be, how much stored food they had, and how long that food would feed both people and livestock animals.
The Blood Moon
Feeding an entire herd was impossible, so the Celts slaughtered most of the animals, leaving enough to reproduce in spring. The lunar month of Samhain is the Blood Moon.
The deaths of the animals and the end of the growing season gave Samhain a frightening aspect. Survival was uncertain, so for the Celts there was little to separate the worlds of the living and the dead or the supernatural. At Samhain, both worlds freely visited each other.
At the Feast of the Dead, the Celts welcomed dead relatives or friends who wanted to return. A place was laid for the dead at the dinner table, or wine and cakes were left out. A candle in the window guided the dead back to lands of eternal summer.
The tradition of wearing masks at Hallowe'en began with the association of masks with death. Death masks were used at burials. The mask-wearer could identify with the divine, human
CERNUNNOS -- Cernunnos is the Lord of the Year, whose antlers grow and fall off as the dark season comes to replace the light. He is also a figure of enlightenment, which he has achieved through mastery of the ram-headed
serpent, the fountain of life-energy within nature. (This drawing by Patrick Wynne is from The Celtic Calendar, produced by The Celtic League American Branch, NYC) To obtain Celtic Calendar, see announcement, page 9
or animal spirits he wished to call up. Later, masks hid the identity of pagan worshippers.
A Time to Feast
The presence of spirits and fear of the future made Samhain the best time for divination. Young women used a variety of techniques to discover who their husbands would be. The most popular method was using a hazelnut for each possible mate. The nuts were placed by the fire; the first nut to jump was the future husband.
In Ireland, the shops today sell "barm brack," a cake made with dried fruit and assorted tokens. Each token symbolizes a different type of good or bad luck. A ring means a marriage soon.
Hope for the future was necessary in the presence of so much doubt and fear. Samhain was above all a time to feast and party. Foods appropriate to the festival were meat dishes, beets, nuts, mulled wines, and, above all, cider and apples.
To bless the apple trees, the Celts made wassail. Games with apples were played, such as apple bobbing and biting an apple off a string.
The celebrations were completed with a big bonfire, lit on the highest point of land near the house.
RELATED STORIES: Listen to Mournful Cry of the Banshee, page 10...Samhain, the Dark Festival of the Sun, page 11.
FEATURES
IN THIS ISSUE
SAMHAIN ...............1,10, 11
MUSIC
TOM COXWORTH........4, 5
CLANNAD......................7
THE LEVELLERS.........8
ALEXANDER BROS.....9
BOOKS
A SENSE OF HONOUR.14 FLAN O'BRIEN.............15
FEATURES
NICK FURLONG...........13
CALGARY......................19
MR. O'NANYMOUS......26
FINANCE.......................27
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