Stories
and Stones of Samhain
By J.P.
Reedman
The nights are
drawing in, the leaves beginning to turn from green to red and gold. Halloween
is upon us, a time of fun and frights, of revels and also reverence. Most
people nowadays are aware that All Hallows Eve or All Saints is a Christian
festival transplanted on top of an earlier Celtic one, Samhain (pronounced
Sow-in or something, depending on the dialect but NOT ‘Sam Hayne’!) The Christian feast was to pray for the souls
of the departed, the second a fire festival that marked the beginning of the
new year—but which also had otherworldly associations, being a time when the
walls between the worlds of the living and dead grew thin and all manners of
creatures could fare abroad beyond the light of the great bonfires.
It is my belief,
however, that the feast of Samhain pre-dates the traditional ‘Celtic’ Iron Age
c500 BC, and may in fact be the remnant of veneration of the ancestral dead in
far antiquity, back in the Bronze Age and Neolithic eras.
To back this up, first,
there are Irish legends themselves. Although written down in the early medieval
times and heavily modified by their Christian authors, they have long been
thought of as a reasonable view of Iron Age Celts. However, it is now thought by some, that they
are not so much a ‘window on the Iron Age’ as was once believed, but a window
on the preceding Bronze Age. DNA has refuted the idea that there was ever
anything like a gigantic ‘Celtic invasion’ in the Iron Age anyway; the Irish
genome is very similar, often identical, to that of remains found there dating
to around 2000 B.C.
There are three
particularly ‘haunting’ Irish legends associated with Samhain, all connected
with ancient monuments. One is the story of Crom Cruac. Crom, whose name means
‘Crooked’ or ‘Bent One’ was a sinister harvest god. He appeared as a single,
golden standing stone encircled by a ring of smaller stones, and on every
Samhain he demanded a tithe of corn, milk…and children. He was eventually
vanquished by St Patrick.
 |
| St Patrick destroys Crom Cruac. |
Then there was the tale of Nera, a warrior who fared
out from the huge ceremonial complex of Rathcroghan on Samhain Eve to tie a
withy round the ankle of a hanged man—who promptly came back to life and prophesied
disaster for Nera’s tribe. Nera sees a vision of a hostile Sidhe (faerie) army
exiting the Cave of the Cats, also known as the mouth of the Otherworld, where
the goddess, the Morrighan, Great Queen of Phantoms, would also sally forth in
her chariot.
And lastly there is the legend of the young hero Fionn, who on Samhain slew the fire-breathing demon Aillen (the Burner) , who fared out of a hollow hill (a passage grave or barrow) seeking to burn down the High Kings’ stronghold at Tara with his fiery breath.
 |
| Fionn faces the monstrous Aillen. |
As for actual archaeology,
not only are the three places mentioned in the legends all connected with
prehistoric monuments extant to this day, many other ancient sites exist across
Ireland that have alignments to Samhain rather than the more usual Winter/Summer
Solstice or the Equinoxes. The Mound of the Hostages, a passage tomb that is
the oldest feature at Tara is aligned on Samhain sunrise, the blocked cruciform
passage at Dowth, Hill of Darkness, part of the Boyne complex, may have also
been similarly aligned—only its passage would have opened on the sunset instead
of sunrise. Others are and Listoghil tomb at Carrowmore and the eerie and
evocative Cairn L at Loughcrew, where the morning light on Samhain touches a
tall pillar looming like a cowled figure in the inner chamber.
 |
| The Author in Cairn, Loughcrew. |
As these places
are not only associated with legendary mound-dwelling creatures, often
beautiful yet deadly, but have at one time contained actual human remains,
think about what a Halloween pumpkin probably denotes with its grinning teeth
and triangle nose and eyes (and in Britain and Ireland people traditionally
carved turnips, not pumpkins, which look a whole lot scarier!)
 |
| Carved Turnip. |
Happy Samhain!
Battle
for Halloween Hollow
(Myths of the Middle Lands Book 3)
Crematia
Coffyn lives in Halloween Hollow, but she doesn't fit in with her rosy cheeks
and curly brown hair, which means she is bullied by girls such as popular,
purple-tressed Sepulchra. However, it is Crematia, along with another outcast,
the deformed Pumpkin known as Lumpkin, and an arthritic skeleton called Skully
McBanes, who help save Halloween Hollow from destruction by the marauding
Scarecrows and the gang-leader Wolfgang Sneer.
A Young Adult fantasy that adults can enjoy as well. A seasonal tale for
HALLOWEEN.
Amazon UK
• Amazon
US
The Barrow Woman's Bones:
A Ghost Story
One thundery day in
1909 a Bronze Age burial mound was opened near the sleepy little town of
Marlborough. Soon Violet's nights would be disturbed by scratching and tapping.
By a horrible, skeletal face pressed to the window.
What did the creature want from a staid old widow? Could Violet ever send this unwanted nightly visitor to eternal rest?
A gentle ghost story based on Wiltshire folkore.
What did the creature want from a staid old widow? Could Violet ever send this unwanted nightly visitor to eternal rest?
A gentle ghost story based on Wiltshire folkore.
Amazon
UK • Amazon
US
The Hosting of the Sidhe:
A Collection of Celtic Fantasy Short
Stories
Original fantasy based on Celtic themes and ancient traditional legends
retold anew. Romance, tragedy, mythology, joy.
Paying the Piper--The old gods are dying. Mabon sets out to find someone who can help them...as a victim.
Paying the Piper--The old gods are dying. Mabon sets out to find someone who can help them...as a victim.
Halfbreed- Keiron laughs at funerals and weeps at weddings. In him runs the capricious blood of the Sidhe. Leaving his home, he seeks to be with his faerie mother's people...but will this proud and amoral people accept him?
Aine of Knockgreine-- Aine is bound to her fairy hill by an enchanted chain placed on her ankle by her father, because she refuses to wed the lord of his choice. Then one day she meets a wounded mortal, who in return for healing, agrees to free her from her bonds.
The Wistman's Price-Alban is a fugitive, and makes a deal with a dark rider on the moor. What will his freedom cost him?
Plus retellings of the classic Children of Lir, Tam Lin and Cornwall's Cherry of Zennor.
Pick up your copy of
THE HOSTING OF THE SIDHE
J.P. Reedman was born in Canada but has lived in the U.K. for nearly 25 years.
Interests include folklore & anthropology, prehistoric archaeology (Neolithic/Bronze age Europe; ritual, burial & material culture), as well as The Wars of the Roses and other medieval periods. Novels include I, Richard Plantagenet and the Man Who Would be King (Wars of the Roses), The Hood Game (Robin Hood), THE STONEHENGE SAGA (bronze Age), and MEDIEVAL BABES, a series about little-known Medieval women.