poetry for samhain

Halloween which in Gaelic is called Samhain and pronounced SAWIN or SAH-WIN, depending on where you live. Samhain is the beginning of Winter and the end of six months of the agricultural year that begins at Beltaine (BALTONY) ie May Day. Storytelling time begins in the evening twilight and is told by the local Seanachie (SHANAHE) in which he or she recounts the legends of Fionn, Cuchullan, Manannan Mac Lir, as well as Adventures and Voyages. There are up to 300 such stories and each one takes an evening to tell so a good Seanachie does not repeat themselves over the course of the whole winter season up to Beltaine. My Uncle, father and Grandfather were Seanachies so I grew up absorbing the story-telling tradition and have always enjoyed recounting stories and legends to honor this ancient Celtic Gaelic tradition.

SAMHAIN (HALLOWEEN)

The Equinox
has come and gone and
Samhain marks the end of summertime;
another circle round the Sun completed as
wintry weather begins its pilgrimage.

The blessings of mother earth, 
 the gratitude for shared abundance,
joys and sorrows,
and the common ties that bind us
to ancient cycles yearly embraced.

October’s end (Deireadh Fomhair), the final month of harvest in the Celtic Year. In times long gone, ancient Celts spent this month preparing for Winter and for the Celtic Feast of Samhain, also known as Féile na Marbh (the Feast of the Dead). Samhain (saa-win) is celebrated at the end of October and beginning of November and is gaelic for summer’s end and winter’s beginning. This ancient festival is a celebration of life over death and a time to remember those who have left the world of the living. Candles are traditionally lit at the graves of ancestors, while bonfires are set ablaze on every hilltop in the countryside. The thin border between the world of the living and the dead becomes transparent on this ‘Ancestors Night’.

Samhain begins the winter season and ends six months later at Beltaine (Baltony) or May-Day. Storytelling and music to take place in the evenings at twilight time and legends are recounted by the local Seanachie (Shanachy) in which stories of the great heroes of the past are told: of Lugh, Dagda, Fionn, Cuchullan, Deirdre, Etain and Manannan Mac Lir, etc as well as Adventures and Voyages of the Tuatha De D’annan (people of the goddess Ana or D’ana. There are over 300 such ancient stories and each one takes an evening to tell, so a Seanachie need not repeat the same story during the six months of winter until May-Day (Beltaine). Most villages had their traditional storytellers, imbued with legendary tales made up in equal measure of courage and sadness, grief and pleasure, suffering and joy.

Below is a version of an ancient Greek poem, adapted by the Irish poet, Seamus Heaney:

The Cure at Troy

Human beings suffer,

They torture one another,

They get hurt and get hard.

No poem or play or song

Can fully right a wrong

Inflicted and endured.

The innocent in gaols

Beat on their bars together.

A hunger striker’s father

Stands in the graveyard dumb.

The police widow in veils

Faints at the funeral home.

History says, Don’t hope

On this side of the grave.

But then, once in a lifetime

The longed for tidal wave

Of justice can rise up,

And hope and history rhyme.

So hope for a great sea change

On the far side of revenge.

Believe that a further shore

Is reachable from here.

Believe in miracles

And cures and healing wells.

Call miracle self-healing;

The utter, self-revealing

Double-take of feeling.

If there’s fire on the mountain

Or lightning and storm

And a god speaks from the sky

That means someone is hearing

The outcry and the birth-cry

Of new life at its term.

A Version of Sophocles’ Philoctetes: verse

adaptation by Seamus Heaney, published in 1991

Kavanaugh and the Authoritarians

via Kavanaugh and the Authoritarians

insightful article; hard power-republican right; soft power, democratic left, the results are not dissimilar in terms of the future of a weaponized society with 800 bases around the world and an el presidente saying we’re not responsible for genocidal wars so America must always come first (i.e. those who reflect his convoluted values).

 

BRIGID’S DAY-IMBOLG

Brigid (Bridget’s Day, Imbolc, Candlemas, Groundhog Day) Feb 1 & 2

Brigid’s (Bridget’s) Day, February 1,(Imbolc), a “Celtic fire festival” day along with May 1(Beltaine), August 1(Lughnasadh), Oct 31 (Samhain).

“Imbolc”  (Imbolg), the transition between winter and Spring Equinox, is translated “in the belly” (or ewe’s milk), relating to early spring, with catkins on the hazel & early buds on trees & a birth of lambs.

Brigid was known in her older incarnation as the  deity of fire energy, poetry & midwifery with many of her fire traits & midwife inspiration continuing in Naomh Brigid (ie St. Bridget).

Brigid was adopted by travelers & monks making pilgrimages to the European continent or to found monasteries in Gaul & Germany. Her cult center was Kildare & her perpetual fire was kept lit through the 15th century.

Brigid was one of the Tuatha De Danann (the daoine sidh or faerie folk),and as such has become revered among modern Pagans, Wiccans & Druids

Brigantia was her land before the invasion of the Romans & later the 5th century Anglo-Saxons who diminished her by calling her followers “brigands”. Brigid & the Brythonic Goddess Brigantia are one & the same, known in India as Brihati.

Brigid is derived from brig & brigant (high/mighty/powerful) with variants Bríd and Bríde. In England and Wales, Bride and Bryde survived as Bridewell & Bridie, an anglicized form of Bríde (ie to be married).

Brigid=Candlemas, involving the tradition of making and blessing candles on Bridget’s Day, connecting Candlemas to Brigid’s sacred fire.

Brigid’s Bed, the making of which was an old tradition in Ireland, the Scottish Highlands & Islands. Women and girls made a corn dolly, and a bed for her to lie upon beside the fire, keeping vigil on Bridget’s Eve with the men paying their respects. In the morning Brigid’s dolly was taken in honor from door-to-door.

Brigid goes abroad on Imbolc Eve & clothes should be placed outside for her to bless. Candles are placed in all the windows to welcome her.

Brigid’s Cross: In West Ireland counties the custom is of making Brigid’s Cross, with four spokes, a blending of the traditional cross with the ancient Celtic sun-wheel. It is woven from straw or rushes & placed near the chimney or mantle as protection against fire & over doorways and above the cowbarn door. Each Brigid’s Eve a new Brigid’s Cross is customarily woven & the old one burnt on the Imbolc fire.