For the Celt, whether Christian or Pre-Christian, the New Year begins at sunset on the 31st October. this marks the onset of winter; summer has abandoned the barren earth and retreated underground. Fruits left unharvested are unfit for humans because they have been contaminated by the other-world touch of the Púca. This time between sunset and the dawn of a new day on 1st November is an 'in-between' time, it is a sacred time, an exciting and indeed, a dangerous time when the light flimsy curtains separating the living from the dead are opened up and chaos is let loose. It became the custom in some parts of Ireland to weave a cross of wheat straw and to place it inside the house over the door. This cross would remain there as a sign for the coming year.

Never vouchsafed to me before

It is to bless thine own presence

thou hast given me this time, O God.

(Carmina Gadelica)   

The Irish Celts took this Fire Festival - Samhain - very seriously. They were mainly a pastoral people, close to the earth, dependent on the elements for crops and herds, very conscious of the seasonal cycles of growth and fertility, of the declining power of the sun and the lengthening hours of darkness, of the merging of the material and spiritual worlds. They sat around the fire and told stories once again; they danced and sang and enjoyed the fruits of the harvest in games and celebrations. They went early to bed leaving the hearth clean, fires lit and plenty of food and drink for visiting relatives back from the dead. All were welcome; 'aren't they our own!' It was a time of gathering, a time of home-coming, a time of rebirth, and new beginnings; a time of peace and forgiveness, for turning towards the future with hope and resolve.

There we have the story of Samhain in the past. What is the story today? We still have our Hallowe'en when young and old come together to enjoy the fruits of the harvest and celebrate with games abe bone-fires and fireworks from dusk to dawn in city, village and country-side. We celebrate the feast of All Saints on the 1st November when we remember with pride and thanksgiving the Christian Saints of our departed ancestors. On the following day, All Souls, each family remembers its own deceased relatives with prayer and deep reverence. Graves are cleaned and adorned with flowers and the cemeteries are crowded with the intermingling families. All through the month of November we are reminded of the ancestors and their individual journeys through this life of joys and sorrows and their continued search for the eternal. Perhaps we might find moments during these quiet days to 'listen to the silence and let our souls catch up'. They can teach us something about the presence of the Other in our lives; something about acceptance of difference; something about generosity and hospitality, about respect for all God's creation.

 Let us turn towards the future with new hope and resolve as we pray in the words of David Adam:

Father, bless to me the dawn,
Bless to me the coming morn.
Bless my neighbour and my friend.
Bless the traveller to our shore.
Bless the stranger at our door.
Bless to me the opening year.
Bless all who to me are dear.
Bless, O Lord, this day of days.
Bless with riches all our ways. 

Work of Sr Concepta Lynch, inspired by the Book of Kells, painted in the Oratory, Dún Laoghaire between 1920 and 1936 (Celtic Revival)