‘ An excellent and comprehensive exploration of this fascinating subject. ’ - Philip Carr-Gomm, author of Druid Mysteries ‘ Samhain was the entry point into winter, a time of hardship, cold and hunger … It was also a time of introspection, of communing with the dead and the otherworld – themes that have somehow survived, albeit distorted, into the modern era.’ The modern celebration of Halloween is derived from the ancient festival of the dead known in Ireland as Samhain . It is from Ireland that we have inherited most of our Halloween traditions, mainly through the diaspora. Delving into the ancient past, this book uncovers the history of this festival in Britain, Ireland and Brittany, including the forgotten goddess Tlachtga and the sacred temple of the Druids in Co. Meath, where the first Halloween fires were lit. ‘All in all, it is a book that does not leave any stone unturned and it was a joy to discover the history behind one of the most popular sabbats.’ ― Pagan Dawn ‘After reading this book you will come away with a much deeper understanding of Samhain, its meaning and where it comes from.’ ― Touchstone magazine ‘An excellent and comprehensive exploration of this fascinating subject.’ -- Philip Carr-Gomm LUKE EASTWOOD is an author, artist and musician who spends his spare time writing book and articles and editing Pagan Ireland magazine. His photography has been used for book covers and album covers, as well as being sold in small galleries. He organised the long-running Nua Art Exhibition and Éigse Spiorad Cheilteach, and gives talks about various aspects of Ireland's history and folkore at festivals and events across Ireland. He lives in County Kerry. Chapter 1 Irish Cosmology and the Otherworld This may seem a strange place to start, considering this is a book primarily aboutSamhain(Samhuinnin Scotland andNos Galan Gaeafin Wales), the ancient form of today’s Halloween. In truth, this is the only logical place to start, as the festival ofSamhaincan only be fully understood within the context of the pre-Christian cosmology and practices of the ancient Irish – what is referred to as Druidism or Druidry. Druidry has been revived in recent centuries, from the early 1700s onwards, but this is a new form of Druidism, more correctly called Neo-Druidry, as it has no continuous link with the religion/spirituality of the original Druids. The arrival of Rome in Western Europe drove Druidism into the ground except in Ireland and Scotland, but even there it did not long survive the arrival of Christianity in the fifth century ce. By all estimates it had more or less died out by the eighth century and persisted only in social practices, folklore, stories and customs but not as a viable religion that anyone could practise openly. Despite the erosion of Druidism, first by the Roman Empire and secondly by the Christian Church, much of the pre-Christian structure and practices of Western Europe (and Ireland particularly) survived in a thinly disguised or mutated form. The pre-Christian view of the world and universe (or cosmology, if we choose to use a fancy term) survived both in the written word and the folk practices of the Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Breton and (to some extent) English peoples. It is to Ireland that we must look for the most complete model of how the Druids understood the world around them and what ways they celebrated the important moments of their year. The Irish year was divided into two halves – winter (geimhreadh) and summer (samhradh), with winter preceding summer. We see the same thing in Gaul, as demonstrated by the Coligny calendar, with three days to celebrateSamionos(Samhain) – TRINVX SAMO SINIV or ‘the three nights ofSamonios’. In the same way as the year, the day was divided into two halves, with the night (from sunset) preceding the daylight. The year itself was subdivided into eight parts of approximately six weeks, each marked by a festival. These eight festivals began at the Celtic New Year, which wasSamhain, summer’s end, which is considered the entry point into the dark part of the year. The eight points of note are (in order) Samhain, winter solstice,Imbolc, spring equinox,Bealtaine, summer solstice,Lughnasadhand autumn equinox. The equinoxes and solstices are universal, they have been celebrated by humanity across the world for millennia but the four ‘Celtic’ festivals are unique to Western Europe, although there are somewhat similar traditions in many countries around the world. All eight of these pagan festivals have managed to survive in Europe in a mutated Christianised form, which has already been covered amply in many books, so I will not discuss them here – it is sufficient to say that the placing of Christmas, Easter, the beginning of spring, the beginning of summer, harvest festival and All Hallows’ Day is no accident. In Ireland and other countries around the world, there are ancient sites of the Neolithic period (late Stone Age) that are very obvio