Articles tagged ‘samhain’
New Year’s Eve in Ireland
By Seán | December 31st, 2006 |
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Well, of course the Irish love to celebrate the New Year.
The ancient celtic new year is, of course, in October and is called samhain. Samhain is, actually, the original Halloween and is now celebrated worldwide, but its significance as the start of the New Year has been entirely lost.
The December 31 New Year’s Eve [...]
Moate bonfire
By Seán | November 6th, 2006 | Add a Comment »
Again my suspicion that the Irish tradition of bonfire burning was dying out (hehe - get it? “dying out” . . . nevermind) has taken another blow.
Witness, if you will, the gleeful children to the left clambering over that heap of inflammables. I spotted a report in a local paper about Halloween bonfires and was [...]
Bonfires galore!
By Seán | November 1st, 2006 | Add a Comment »
Perhaps I spoke too soon - submitted for your consideration is the above: an approprately spooky and festive bunch carousing around a bonfire on all hallows eve - the ancient festival celebrating the end of the celtic year known as samhain.
I had stated in an earlier post that it would seem the new draconian [...]
Bobbing for apples at Irish Halloween parties
By Seán | October 31st, 2006 | Add a Comment »
Back in the states we have a lot of traditions on Halloween and a number of party games often used throughout the year. One of the ones remember fondly was bobbing for apples. When I suggested we play it at our Halloween party Friday last, I was told that the Irish do it a different [...]
Irish Bonfires a thing of the past?
By Seán | October 30th, 2006 | Add a Comment »
So last night the Bean, the 15-year-old vietnamese boy, Anne-Marie and I piled into Betsy II and headed two hours north for a bonfire. As we loaded up with petrol before heading out, the Bean turned to the two yanks in the car and advised,
“Now, if we get stopped at a gardai checkpoint, we [...]
Irish halloween musings
By Seán | October 26th, 2006 | Add a Comment »
So I was listening to Gerry Ryan today and, at the end of his show Fiona Looney came on and the two of them began discussing halloween. They mentioned that Ireland has recently adopted a number of very american traditions in their celebrations of the holiday, but they also noted that a lot of what [...]
Turnip carving video
By Seán | October 23rd, 2006 | Add a Comment »
Can I tell you a secret?
Once a year I carry a camera with me for 24 hours and then edit it down to about 15 minutes. I call this ongoing project “Day in the Life” and I’ve been doing it now for 10 years. Anyway, this last Friday (the evening of the halloween party) I [...]
Oh my gourd
By Seán | October 21st, 2006 | Add a Comment »
Yayyyy!
Well, the party was a huge success. This was our fourth annual pumpkin carving party and by far the largest pumpkin slaughter we’ve witnessed in Ireland thus far. I had the occasion to serve the two mini-kegs of Kinsale Irish microbrew I’d brought back from Co Cork and they were received with surprise and [...]
Turnip carving
By Seán | October 21st, 2006 | 1 Comment »
What you see there to your left is the final result of my experiment in reviving an ancient Irish tradition: the carving of a turnip into a jack-o-lantern.
Yes, the original jack-o-lantern was a turnip and not a pumpkin. I have to admit that I had my doubts when I purchased the turnip a few days [...]
