The term Celts is a misused term as the term " Celt " was not used at the time of the Ancient or Early People in the British Isles. The people were not "Celts " ; they were Gaels, Britons and Gauls. Celt comes from the Greek word Keltoi which means barbarian and was used from 17th and 18th Centuries to classify these people who lived a certain life style. The Celts.
Many of the ways we celebrate Halloween here and in America come from Gaels and Britons. Even then though, the festival was not called Halloween. It was known as Samhain( pronounced Sow -win ) Christians took the festival over and Christianised it to Halloween, All Hallows Eve.
Millions of Irish/ Britons who emigrated to America took these traditions with them.
Blarney Castle and Gardens, County Corkon 06/01/2023
An Cóbh, Corcaigh, Eireon 05/29/2023
Dublin ; The Book of Kellson 04/04/2023
The Bee Tree Community CIC;- an online support communityon 08/24/2022
Comments
It's nice to see how other cultures celebrate Halloween. I learned about colcannon as well so thanks for this.
If you hold Halloween celebrations, this article might be of interest.
Yes I thought I would put some fun in our sad, uncertain times.
I have never been much into Halloween myself but looking at it from a different perspective helps.
Each county in Ireland celebrsted differently . Some counties call Halloween Colcannon night . It is a great irish favourite. In many counties in Ireland, it was a time to do various things to see who you would marry !
This was such an enjoyable read! I will certainly make colcannon. I also enjoyed changing my perspective of Halloween a little (great) bit :)
Halloweeen 2020.
The festival which originated in Ancient Ireland will be celebrated differently this year in the UK because of COVID 19.
Children are being discouraged from going door to door. It is an unsafe practice at best.
How ever you celebrate the festival, let's all keep safe and distanced . We can watch Halloween films, or have some treats at home.
Take care.
BSG
An excellent point and one which needs reiterating. My parish priest has no problem with the children "celebrating " Halloween" which is after all a Christianisation of The Briton/ Gael feast of Samhain. The people aren't taking part in devil worship. It is "All Hallows Eve " - "Halloween " "All saint's Eve. "
Coven activities are not devil worship, but they are incompatible with Christian commitment.However,if we want an example of a witch who was not evil, we need look no further than Wizzley's Jo Harrington, who is much missed on this site.
It is interesting to see the connection to Ireland. Now the costumes include princesses and superheros. Masks include politicians and royals. Zombies and monsters are always present. Some years back the local Catholic bishop proclaimed it fine to celebrate Halloween as long as one does not do so to honor the devil. I suppose this would include coven activities, even though some claim they are witches but not evil.
;Some points on terminology.
1:Lambswool is an English rendering of the Gaelic La mas ubhal [day of the fruit of the apple.] Ubhal is pronounced oowal. It is equivalent to some drinks taken in England in the course of wassailing. Interestingly, the word mas for fruit may have survived in English in the term mast, which denotes beechnuts fallen from trees, which is why years heavy in beechnuts are known as mast years.
2: Colcannon gets its first syllable from cole, a word signifying cabbages, which survives in the word coleslaw.
Derdriu
re spoiled apples. It is always a problem with spoiled apples even now . Apples which fall or are not picked in time. The pukka story is I think how early people tried to explain such events .
I have never tasted Lambswool but I suspect it links in to the use of apples before winter.
Ty my aim is always to try to take people on a " visit " when they may never actually get a chance to visit places off the standard British tourist trap.
The pumpkins were in a beautiful fireplace which I saw in Wray Castle last week.
As for Colcannon? It is delicious. Just cook a little extra cabbage and mashed potato sometime. Mix them together and fry over very briefly. My dad used to call it Resurrection. Sometimes it has onion added.