#samnhain

SAMNHAIN BIRTHDAY

WHATEVER YOU DO, WHETHER IT’S SETTING A PLACE AT THE TABLE FOR THE DEAD, SCRYING IN FIRE OR WATER FOR THE FUTURE, BOBBING FOR IMMORTAL APPLES OR JOINING THE CAILLEACH IN A WILD HUNT, HAVE FUN, STAY SAFE, MIND YOU’RE MORTAL. JUST SAYIN’...

KEEP THE FIRE BURNING ALL NIGHT. ;)

“ 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. “

ENTIRE ARTICLE SOURCE:https://www.newgrange.com/samhain.htm

“ The source of the word is suitably gruesome for this time of year when tradition holds that the veil between the world of the living and the dead is whisper thin. The bon in bonfire isn’t from the French word for good (no matter what the wonderful Dr Johnson thought), it’s from bone. The original bonfires were fires for burning bones. “

ARTICLE SOURCE: https://wordfoolery.wordpress.com/2020/10/26/burning-bones-the-word-history-of-bonfires/

INTERESTING ARTICLE. AS A BAIRN I WAS TAUGHT “BONFIRES” STEMMED FROM BALEFIRES...FIRE NORMALLY LIT ATOP HILLS WHICH SIGNALLED INCOMING RAIDERS, AND BEFORE *THAT*, “BAL”FIRES, TO AN ANCIENT SUN GOD.

OF DR JOHNSON, I’M NOT AMONG HIS FANS. HE WAS PRETTY SCATHING TOWARDS THE NATIVES OF THE LAND OF MY BIRTH AT TIMES...

“ Although Johnson admitted he understood nothing about Scottish Gaelic, he reported what he had been told about it: "Of the Earse language, as I understand nothing, I cannot say more than I have been told. It is the rude speech of a barbarous people, who had few thoughts to express, and were content, as they conceived grossly, to be grossly understood". He thus popularized the misconception that the Gaels had no written literature going as far as reporting "that the Earse never was a written language; that there is not in the world an Earse manuscript a hundred years old; and that the sounds of the highlanders were never expressed by letters, till some little books of piety were translated, and a metrical version of the Psalms was made by the Synod of Argyle." 

THE ASSUMPTION THAT LITERACY WAS ONE OF THE FEW THINGS TO DESIGNATE INTELLECT AND CIVILISATION IS AN ANNOYING ONE. THE GAELS HAD A STRONG ORAL TRADITION IN WHICH PEOPLE WERE TRAINED FOR MANY YEARS TO MEMORISE, CONTAIN AND PASS ON NOT ONLY MYTHOLOGY AND LORE BUT THE HISTORY OF CLAN, PLACE, EVENTS AND MORE, AND TO DO IT *ACCURATELY*.

HOW MANY FOLKS CAN DO THAT NOW? PEOPLE NOW ARE SO USED TO STORING INFO ON THEIR DEVICES SOME I KEN HAVE TO LOOK UP THEIR OWN NAMES.... OK, SERIOUSLY, I *DO* KNOW FOLKS THAT HAVE TO LOOK UP THEIR OWN PHONE NUMBERS OR POSTCODES...

THAT THE GAELS WERE BARBAROUS SAVAGES WITH LITTLE CULTURE WAS A PREDOMINANTLY ENGLISH VIEWPOINT OF US. THE FACT THAT PEOPLE CAME TO SCOTLAND TO BE EDUCATED IN THE ORAL TRADITION AS WELL AS OTHER ARTS AND THAT INCLUDES WARFARE IS OFTEN IGNORED AND FORGOTTEN.

EVEN CUCHULAINN HIMSELF WAS SENT TO SCOTLAND TO BE TRAINED IN FIGHTING BY THE WARRIORESS SCATHACH.

SO AYE, JOHNSON CAN BUGGER OFF. SPENT MUCH TIME COMPLAINING ABOUT THE FOOD (BUT ATE PLENTY OF IT ALL THE SAME) AND MOANING ABOUT THE WEATHER (POSSIBLY IGNORANT OF THE FACT THAT THE FURTHER NORTH YOU GET, THE WILDER THE WEATHER ALSO BECOMES)

I DON’T KNOW IF BONFIRES ARE LEGAL OR NOT IN IRELAND (NOTE TO SELF: FIND OUT!) BUT I DO HAVE A WEE FIREPIT AND AM HOPING AGAINST HOPE THAT SAMNHAIN WILL BE A DRY ENOUGH NIGHT TO LIGHT A WEE FIRE. THOUGH GIVEN THE RAIN WE’RE HAVING AT THE MOMENT, IT’S PROBABLY 50/50 EITHER WAY.

WHERE I COME FROM, YOU’D LIGHT A BONFIRE THIS TIME OF YEAR AND SEND MESSAGES TO YOUR ANCESTORS IN THE FIRE VIA PIECES OF PAPER BURNED (DR JOHNSON WOULD NO DOUBT HAVE APPROVED) AND YOU SCRIED FOR OMENS IN THE FLAMES.

YOU ALSO BOBBED FOR APPLES, PEELED APPLES AND THREW THEM OVER YOUR SHOULDER FOR THE LETTER OF THE FIRST NAME OF YOUR FUTURE SPOUSE AND OTHER SUCH GAMES...YET THE APPLE IS IMPORTANT IN BOTH CELTIC AND NORSE CULTURE, NORMALLY REFERRING TO HEALTH AND LONGEVITY, AND FERTILITY.

ROASTING MARSHMALLOWS, ENTIRELY MODERN TRADITION BUT HEY, I’M NOT AVERSE TO GOOD CHANGE! THOUGH I’D RATHER DROP MY MARSHMALLOWS INTO A STEAMING HOT MUG OF CHOCOLATE AND JUST LET THEM MELT.

WHEN IT COMES TO FIRE IN GENERAL, THE ONLY TIME I LIVED IN A HOME WITHOUT A HEARTH WAS IN EXILE IN BELGIUM. IT FELT...STRANGE. WASN’T THE HOUSE’S FAULT..AT  ONE POINT IT DID HAVE A FIREPLACE, AS YOU COULD SEE BY THE DEFUNCT CHIMNEY ON THE ROOF.

SPEAKING FOR MYSELF HERE, I BELIEVE A HOME NEEDS A HEARTH, WITH A FIRE AT IT’S HEART. FIRE REPRESENTS SO MUCH AND THE ROOTS OF IT GO BACK SO FAR IT’S ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE TO SEPARATE THE HISTORY OF FIRE FROM MANKIND.

AND AS WITH THE AUTHOR OF THE ARTICLE, I TAKE PRIDE IN USING FLINT AND STEEL OR FERRO ROD AND A WEE KNIFE I USE FOR A STRIKER, TO START A FIRE.

I DID, ONCE, MANAGE THE STICK RUBBING. TOOK ME AGES, LEFT MY HANDS AND ARMS ACHING AND I SWORE TO TAKE MY ZIPPO WITH ME NEXT TIME.  SO I COMPROMISE..THE ROD AND STRIKER IS “IT” IF I’M CAMPING OR CAN’T FIND THE HOUSE MATCHES.

BUT WHAT CAN BEAT SITTING ON A COLD WINTER’S NIGHT IN FRONT OF A BLAZING FIRE, TOASTING FEET OR MARSHMALLOWS, OR STARING INTO EMBERS AND SEEING LANDSCAPES OR EVENTS UNFOLD AND KENNING OUR ANCESTORS WOULD IDENTIFY WITH THE COMFORT, ENJOYMENT AND IMPORTANCE OF THE LIVING FLAME.

TALKING OF BONE BURNING, BTW, THAT TAKES SOME HEAT.

IN THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND THERE ARE “BURNT GLASS MOUNDS”. I’VE SEEN A FEW SO DISAGREE WITH THE “BATHING AND COOKING” THEORY, SIMPLY DUE TO THE SIZE OF SOME OF THEM, AND THE HEAT NEEDED TO CREATE GLASS. NOBODY’S GETTING IN A BATH *THAT* HOT....FOLKS INTERESTED IN GLASS MOUNDS CAN READ MORE HERE THOUGH THERE’S A LOT OF INFO ONLINE...

http://assyntfireandwater.aocarchaeology.com/what-is-a-burnt-mound/

SUTHERLAND WAS MY STOMPING GROUND BEFORE MOVING TO SCOTLAND, WITH ASSYNT NOT TOO FAR FROM US. FROM BURNT MOUNDS TO SOUTTERAINS AND “DRUID TEMPLES”, STONE CIRCLES AND HOLLOW HILLS, THE NORTH OF SCOTLAND IS AWASH WITH HISTORY AND ARCHAEOLOGY, MUCH OF IT STILL REMOTE AND UNINVESTIGATED. WHICH, IMO, IS NICE. :)

“SUTHERLAND” BTW WAS NORSE NAMED, FROM “SUDRLAND”, LITERALLY, SOUTH LAND.

I’M SCOTTISH. I’VE SAID THAT BEFORE BUT IT MEANS I GREW UP IN A PARTICULAR CULTURE.

NOW, SAMNHAIN IS CHANGING. WHEN I WAS YOUNG, WE DIDN’T GO “TRICK OR TREATING” ...TO PLAY TRICKS ON PEOPLE JUST WOULDN’T HAVE BEEN TOLERATED BY ADULTS.

WE WENT “GUISING”. THIS MEANT DRESSING UP (”DISGUISING” OURSELVES) BUT NOT IN SHOP BOUGHT COSTUMES..YOUR MAM MADE WHAT YOU’D WEAR, OR YOUR GRANNY, OR YOU’D PUT SOMETHING TOGETHER YOURSELF. AND THERE WERE NO PUMPKINS IN SCOTLAND! AT ALL! (WEATHER. FREEZING. HOWLING GALES. FROST, ALL THAT KINDA THING) SO OUR LANTERNS WERE MADE OUT OF NEEPS. TURNIPS. ACTUALLY, IN TRUTH, SWEDES. THE VEGETABLE. NOT THE PEOPLE. MAKING LANTERNS OUT OF PEOPLE IS A NO-NO.

ANYONE ELSE HERE OLD ENOUGH TO REMEMBER HOW BLOODY DIFFICULT IT IS TO CARVE A LANTERN FROM A SWEDE/NEEP? (NEEP IS THE SCOTS WORD FOR TURNIP OR SWEDE BTW)

YOU HAD TO ATTACK THE INSIDE WITH A SUPER SHARP, SUPER STRONG KNIFE, THEN USE A TOUGH SPOON TO SMOOTH IT OUT. THEN EITHER YOU OR YOUR PARENTS USED A STANLEY KNIFE TO CARVE OUT THE EYES, NOSE AND MOUTH. USUALLY ALL TRIANGULAR BECAUSE OF THE TOUGHNESS OF THE NEEP.

AND YOU PUT THE STUB OF A CANDLE IN IT AND LIT IT. SO WHEN YOU WENT GUISING, YOU WERE FOLLOWED EVERYWHERE BY THE SMELL OF GENTLY COOKING NEEP.

IN THOSE DAYS, IT WAS SAFER TO GO ROUND DOORS, PARTICULARLY IN RURAL SCOTLAND. WE’D WALK LITERALLY MILES, WHERE I WAS RAISED, GOING FROM CROFTHOUSE TO CROFTHOUSE.

NO “TRICKS”. YOU KNOCKED POLITELY ON THE DOOR, WERE INVITED IN AND HAD TO PERFORM FOR TREATS. SO THAT MEANT YOU’D RECITE A WEE POEM, SING A SONG OR DO A WEE DANCE. IN RETURN YOU’D GET A POCKETFUL OF SWEETS, USUALLY BOILED SUGAR SWEETS (CHOCOLATE MEANT YOU’D HIT THE JACKPOT AND WERE IN A RICH PERSON’S CROFTHOUSE!) AND SOMETIMES, A SMALL BOTTLE OF FIZZY JUICE.

MY USUAL “GUISE” WAS TO BORROW MY DAD’S MINING CLOTHING AND BLACKEN MY FACE WITH SOOT, PRETENDING TO BE A COAL MINER (HE WORKED PART TIME IN BRORA COAL MINE, SCOTLAND’S SMALLEST COALMINE IN THE NORTH EAST HIGHLANDS. CLOSED NOW, SADLY) WHICH NO CHILD WOULD GET AWAY WITH NOWADAYS BECAUSE THEY’D AUTOMATICALLY BE CALLED “RACIST” EVEN THOUGH YOU WERE, IN FACT, PRETENDING TO BE A COAL MINER. WHO GOT DIRTY WITH COAL DUST.

BUT WE HAD FUN. WE KNEW THE PEOPLE WHOSE HOMES WE VISITED AND THEY KNEW US (AND OUR PARENTS SO WE WERE ALWAYS ON OUR BEST BEHAVIOUR!

NOBODY DECORATED THEIR HOMES WITH WHAT PEOPLE DO TODAY. NO PUMPKINS, ORANGE LIGHTS, BATS, ETC. NOTHING. JUST THOSE FEW DAYS AROUND SAMNHAIN, GUISING AND COLLECTING ENOUGH SWEETS TO MAKE US SICK BECAUSE WE’D EAT THEM ALL AT ONCE.

NOW, FROM SEPTEMBER, THE SHOPS ARE FULL OF “HALLOWEEN” DECORATIONS, OUTFITS AND EVEN SPECIAL EFFECTS MAKEUP FOR THE WANNABE ZOMBIES/GHOULS AMONG US.

AND PEOPLE’S HOMES SCREAM “HALLOWEEN” (NO JOKE INTENDED THERE, SORRY) WITH PUMPKINS GALORE INDOORS AND OUT, STRUNG LIGHTS, FLYING STRINGS OF BATS, GHOSTS, SKELETONS, YOU NAME IT.

DON’T GET ME WRONG. I LIKE IT. MORE SO BECAUSE THE ACTUAL DATE OF SAMNHAIN IS MY DAUGHTER’S BIRTHDAY SO IT’S A DOUBLE WHAMMY CELEBRATION FOR US. :D

BUT...I KINDA MISS CARVING THE NEEPS, TRYING TO GET CREATIVE WITH GUISING, AND THE ADVENTURE OF GOING ROUND PEOPLE’S HOMES AND KNOWING YOU WERE SAFE AND IF YOU SANG PRETTILY ENOUGH OR KNEW ALL THE VERSES TO TAM O SHANTER, YOU’D GET SWEETIES AND JUICE. SOMETIMES, IF THE CROFTER HAD BEEN AT A DRAM OR TWO, EVEN A SIXPENCE TO SPEND AT THE SHOP THE NEXT DAY.

LAST TIME I WAS IN A SHOP, A FEW WEEKS BACK, RIGHT BESIDE THE HALLOWEEN DECORATIONS WERE THE CHRISTMAS ONES. IT JARRED.

MORE SO BECAUSE I DON’T CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS, BEING HEATHEN I CELEBRATE JUL (AND IT’S A WHOLE MOON TO MOON, MONTH LONG THING WITH THE SPECIAL DAY BEING THE SOLSTICE)

AND I LOOKED AT BOTH SETS OF DECORATIONS AND YOU KNOW WHAT? THEY ONLY REAL DIFFERENCE TWEEN THE HALLOWEEN AND XMAS ONES WAS THE COLOUR...ORANGE AND BLACK DOMINATED HALLOWEEN. XMAS WAS RED AND GREEN, LARGELY. BUT IT WAS ALL THE SAME..PLASTIC AND GLITTER AND LED LIGHTS.

WE PUT UP A SYNTHETIC JUL TREE. THIS IS SOMETHING WE HAVE AND WILL HAVE ALL OUR LIVES. IT’S REALISTIC ENOUGH LOOKING TO PLEASE ME BUT I’M NOT BEING PULLED INTO THE COMMERCIAL CONIFER GROWING “FACTORY”...

BUT THERE’LL BE WREATHS MADE OF HOLLY, IVY AND PINE. BOWLS OF PINE CONES SCENTED WITH ESSENTIAL OILS. KISSING GLOBES MADE OF PLANT, MOSS AND MISTLETOE AND OTHER BERRIES. FOOD WILL BE PLENTIFUL BUT SIMPLE AND HEARTWARMING. DRINKS LIKEWISE. THE FIRE WILL STAY LIT AND DURING HOGMANAY (SCOTS NEW YEAR) IT ISN’T ALLOWED TO GO OUT AS THAT BRINGS BAD LUCK FOR THE COMING YEAR.

AND THERE ARE CANDLES, LIT EVERY EVENING, SMALL ACTS OF DEFIANCE AGAINST THE DARK AND COLD OF WINTER.

JUL MAY BE CLOSE, BUT SAMNHAIN STILL HAS TO HAPPEN. SHOPS TAKE NOTE.....HAVING YOUR DECORATIONS SIDE BY SIDE DIDN’T ENTICE ME TO BUY. QUITE THE OPPOSITE.

THIS YEAR, JUST FOR NOSTALGIA’S SAKE, I MAY JUST CARVE A NEEP LANTERN. THOUGH MY GUISING DAYS ARE LONG GONE AND SADLY, DUE TO THE LEVEL 3 AND 4 RESTRICTIONS IN IRELAND (DEPENDS WHICH COUNTY YOU’RE IN) BAIRNS ARE ADVISED NOT TO GO “TRICK OR TREATING”, WHICH IS A SHAME. THEY CAN STILL GO TO SCHOOL, MIND YOU.....

(YUP. MAKES NAE SENSE TO ME EITHER....)

PUMPKINS AREN’T NATIVE TO IRELAND OR SCOTLAND. I LIKE THEM. THEY’RE ORANGE. CHEERY. YOU CAN GET REALLY CREATIVE WITH THE CARVING.

BUT THEY AREN’T REALLY “OURS”. AN IMPORT FROM AMERICA, ALONG WITH THE INCREASE IN COMMERCIALISATION OF BOTH HALLOWEEN AND JUL.

MAYBE WE SHOULD REMEMBER A WORD THAT WAS TRENDING A WEE WHILE BACK.

LAGOM....