Halloween & the Celtic otherworld
Here's a little bit of background relating to Halloween that you may find enjoyable. I've had an interest in the topic of Halloween and its connection to the idea of 'otherworlds' for years, however, I spent a great deal of time on these ideas while researching material and themes for the album "The Twilight Realm," (which deals heavily with the Celtic otherworld) as well as "Between the Worlds. Hope you enjoy!
Why is Halloween associated with Ireland?
* Halloween has its roots in the ancient Celtic feast of Samhain.
* Samhain was one of four "Fire Festivals" that marked the changing of the seasons.
What is a Fire Festival?
* Fire festivals marked the changing of the seasons in a culture where the agricultural round of the year was central to peoples' lives.
How many Fire Festivals were there?
*There were four in total.
* Besides Samhain (Halloween), the other ancient fire festivals are Imbolc (Feb.1), Beltaine (May 1) and Lughnasadh (August 1). (The spelling of these feasts can vary). A bonfire, or the element of fire was almost always involved.
Do these Fire Festivals Still exist in Ireland?
* When Christianity was introduced into Ireland, new feasts were superimposed on the old ones e.g. February 1, or Imbolc, originally a celebration of the Goddess Bridget, became Saint Bridget's Day. However, old remnants of the tradition lived on even during my youth. In the film "Dancing at Lughnasadh,' you'll notice there is a bonfire scene towards the end.
What Exactly Did Samhain mean back then?
* Halloween (or Samhain) was like New Year's Eve and marked the beginning of the New year.
* The year was divided into two halves, the dark half and the light half. For the ancients, the dark always came before the light. Day began for them at dusk, not dawn, and so the year began with the 'dark half' on October 31st or Halloween (Samhain).
* They believed that the "light Half" belonged to the people. This was the time for planting, harvesting, marriages and all human pursuits.
* They believed that the "Dark half" belonged to the 'otherworld.'
How do ghosts and goblins fit in with all this?
* The central belief was that the 'veil between the worlds' was thinnest at these power times of year. Since Samhain (or Halloween, as it has come to be known), was new year's eve, it was thought to be an auspicious time to make contact with the otherworld. Initially, it was considered an excellent time for divination. In my youth, we were bobbing for apples, a fruit that is a central part of the harvest celebrations of many cultures.
In Celtic mythology the apple tree was considered a pathway to the otherworld. Make a mental checklist of your own childhood fairy stories and see how many apples come into the scenario?
* Over time, these ideals became more fun in nature. In my youth, we used to make barm-bracks, a type of loaf.
A ring, a rag, a pea and a matchstick were put into the batter. Whoever got the ring would be married within the year and got the matchstick would marry a poor man! In truth, I can't remember what the recipients of the other two items were in for!
Going way back in time, there were many games for young girls to divine if marriage was in store in the coming year. Great trouble was taken to find clues as to who the lucky man might be!
What does "otherworld" mean in the Celtic word?
* The world "Celtic" can be tricky and mean many things to different people but let's assume we're referring to ancient Irish practices.
* There were several 'otherworlds.' At the risk of over-simplifying, one might say there were three
1. "Tir na nOg" or "the Land of Eternal Youth." This might be compared to a type of heaven, where a minute in time might equal decades on earth. Tir na nOg appears in many mythology stories of Ireland.
2. The land beneath the waves. Believe it or not, there are selkies (seals that come to life and live as humans) and mermaids in Irish lore and music. (See "The Twilight Realm" - track 3 " The Selkie" and "the Mermaid"
3. The land beneath the ground, or the world of fairy (faerie). This is perhaps the most misunderstood area of Irish folklore! (See The Twilight Realm" album; King of the Faeries and Dance of the Fairies)
The Twilight Realm
The album "The Twilight Realm" seeks to tackle the issue of fairylore.
I fear Walt Disney has gotten the better of us all on this one!
When you mention the world faery (fairy) or sprite, people tend to think "Disney," or worse - stage Irish! (little green men!).
It's always a great surprise to people to discover that most of the stories from the middle ages originating in Western Europe were all about fairies. Many folklorists think of fairylore as tools for symbolic thinking. When you consider that our forefathers lived in a pre-psychology era, often without the benefit of the written word, fairylore was often a way of coming to terms with the unexplainable difficulties of life.
A Simple Fairy Story
Once upon a time there were two brothers who lived on the edge of the woods. Both were born with a hideous humps on their back.
One day, one of the brothers set out to walk into the town. While passing the fairy fort he heard music. The fairies came out and invited him in. They played wonderful music for him, fed him, played games with him and even took the lump from his back. Delighted, he returned home to tell his brother of his great adventure and good luck.
The next day, his brother set out and also heard music while passing the fairy fort. The fairies invited him in. However, he was not so lucky. They were cruel to him, whipped him and gave him the lump from his brother's back. The poor man went home beaten, disappointed and carrying two humps on his back!
So, is there a moral to this story? I would say - no. Nor will you find a moral in most fairy stories. An interesting thing about fairylore is that it's likely to interweave nicely with whatever it is you believe in the first place. The one thing it clearly does is reflect life. One day you walk down the street and have a great day. For whatever reason, you walk down the next day and all hell breaks loose!
What is a Changeling?
A practical, and perhaps sad example, is that of the 'changeling.' For much of human history, infant mortality rates were very high. A 'changeling' often referred to a sick child, or to be more specific, a sick fairy child who had been who had been left, while the healthy child was taken to the otherworld of fairy. It's easy enough to discount these practices and pass them off as superstition, however, for a woman who was about to loose a child, the idea that the child was 'taken' (by the fairies, and replaced with a sick fairy child not truly her own), was a means of preparing her for what was to come. Further, the idea that the child was 'taken' with some possible hope of return, could be easier to bear the reality that the child was 'gone.' This thinking was not so much for assistance during daylight hours when people tended to rely on more formal religious thinking. However, in the dead of night, when logical thinking deserts us all - it had its place of comfort.
The changeling explanation was often applied to adults also, particularly if they were returning to normal life after a period of mental illness. "He wasn't himself." It gave the community member a dignified means to re-enter society without being labelled. It was a face saving mechanism that, in retrospect, seems wise and kind.
What about the Banshee
People often think that because there is a version of the world 'fairy' ('sidh') at the end of the word Banshee that it may have some relationship to fairylore. It has none.