Who the hell is Sam Hane?
So Halloween is almost upon us again. And more so than ever before the celebrations here are becoming 'Americanised'. Everywhere in every shop (it seems) there are ghouls in cages, witches, and animatronic skeletons, pumpkins and black and orange decorations, and of course fireworks abound for a good week before the night in question.
It's come a long way from the traditional dressing up, braving the cold (and invariable rain) to go from door to door in your home/school made crepe paper witches/princess cone hat, bobbing for apples, chowing down on grapes, trying to hammer the life out of a hazelnut just get the bloody thing open whilst almost breaking your teeth biting into the brass ring in the brack (trad. seasonal fruit bread). Having said that, nothing beats for me going up to my Aunts in the Co. Wicklow mountains, away from the city, looking up at the mass of stars above and then out into the moonlit landscape and seeing the bonfires (traditionally built to steer the souls of the departed through the dark and away from evil) spring up from home to home, glittering across the countryside. It may not be environmentally correct these days but it was and is beautiful both aesthetically and as a sentiment.
By the way by no means do I think this more glossy version is a bad thing. I enjoyed a full on American Halloween in the States a couple of years ago and it really was a lot of fun, a real family evening on a grand scale, with the efforts made to decorate houses and dress up just fabulous...though I'm still amazed at the ages of some of the 'kids' that went candy hunting from door to door *snort*. I think I'm more amused than anything at how something that essentially was transported from these shores to the U.S came back here bigger and better than before.
The only thing that ever made me cringe was hearing about Samhain celebrations, invariably pronounced Sam Hane instead of the actual Sow-Wan, among the Wiccan community in the States. For Godsakes if you're going to get into something and be all mystical and blessed be and the like at least learn to pronounce the word of the festival you're celebrating...you'll just confuse your Celtic Gods and Goddesses!
[Gratuitous Info Alert: Samhain btw (for those few reading who don't know) is the Irish name for the month of November, and not just this feast day. It actually means Summers End (Samhraidh being the Irish word for Summer), and was originally the equivalent of late September, only getting shifted further along when the Gregorian calendar with the Roman originating July and August was introduced to Ireland.]
Still, whatever way you celebrate (if you celebrate) do so safely and enjoy!
It's come a long way from the traditional dressing up, braving the cold (and invariable rain) to go from door to door in your home/school made crepe paper witches/princess cone hat, bobbing for apples, chowing down on grapes, trying to hammer the life out of a hazelnut just get the bloody thing open whilst almost breaking your teeth biting into the brass ring in the brack (trad. seasonal fruit bread). Having said that, nothing beats for me going up to my Aunts in the Co. Wicklow mountains, away from the city, looking up at the mass of stars above and then out into the moonlit landscape and seeing the bonfires (traditionally built to steer the souls of the departed through the dark and away from evil) spring up from home to home, glittering across the countryside. It may not be environmentally correct these days but it was and is beautiful both aesthetically and as a sentiment.
By the way by no means do I think this more glossy version is a bad thing. I enjoyed a full on American Halloween in the States a couple of years ago and it really was a lot of fun, a real family evening on a grand scale, with the efforts made to decorate houses and dress up just fabulous...though I'm still amazed at the ages of some of the 'kids' that went candy hunting from door to door *snort*. I think I'm more amused than anything at how something that essentially was transported from these shores to the U.S came back here bigger and better than before.
The only thing that ever made me cringe was hearing about Samhain celebrations, invariably pronounced Sam Hane instead of the actual Sow-Wan, among the Wiccan community in the States. For Godsakes if you're going to get into something and be all mystical and blessed be and the like at least learn to pronounce the word of the festival you're celebrating...you'll just confuse your Celtic Gods and Goddesses!
[Gratuitous Info Alert: Samhain btw (for those few reading who don't know) is the Irish name for the month of November, and not just this feast day. It actually means Summers End (Samhraidh being the Irish word for Summer), and was originally the equivalent of late September, only getting shifted further along when the Gregorian calendar with the Roman originating July and August was introduced to Ireland.]
Still, whatever way you celebrate (if you celebrate) do so safely and enjoy!