HX Report
Irishman in the Middle East
All Hallows Eve
Did you know that the traditions and feast of All Hallows Eve originated in HX? Seriously. MB would not tell you all a lie. MB, as ever, speaks only the truth. But maybe you need to see some more proof before you are convinced. Seeing is believing, is it not, Mr Thomas?
The Irish Gaelic word for Autumn (or ‘Fall’ as the Americans incorrectly refer) is ‘Samhain’ (pronounced: sow-en). On the pre-Christian Celtic feast of Samhain the Irish lit bonfires to ward off the evil spirits that lurked in the dark Samhain evenings. The following link will give you the full story:
http://www.irishcentral.com/roots/slainte-feile-na-marbh-130728168-237784421.html
But here’s a section from that link piece, in case you don’t have time to click. We are all busy people are we not?:
Consumed with fear that they might be carted away to the land of the dead, the Irish lit huge bonfires to ward off evil forces. At night they listened to seannachies tell how the Gaels had defeated the magical Tuatha De Danaan. Undaunted, the Tuatha De Danaan plagued their conquerors with trickery, depriving them of milk and grain. Finally, a compromise was reached and the land was divided into two parts. The Gaels had won the right to live above ground; the fairy folk agreed to live underground.
But on Samhain the veil between this and the Otherworld was thin. The fairies roamed at will, the mounds marking the entries to their dwelling places glowed with eerie light, and many a mortal disappeared, lured to live forever below ground with the fairy Sidhe.
The American tradition of trick-or-treating is well-known to displease the fairy folk no end. And there’s many a visiting American has vanished into thin HX air in years past, around this time of the lunar calendar, give or take a few days. Stories from old HX seannachies (story tellers) tell of fairy snatcher-squads whispering eerily into the ears of the terrified Americans – “Trick or treat?”, as both disappear in a faint flash of opaque light into an underground fairy fort for all eternity. Sad, but very very true.
And if you happen to go for a stroll near the HX lake of Lough Gur tonight, then there is the distinct possibility you may see Gearoid Iarla riding on his white horse across the lake waters. GI arises from the lake bottom only once every seven years and MB believes that tonight marks the next expected appearance. Again, as in close encounters with the fairy folk, great caution is advised, lest you are taken into the lake underworld, and we only get to meet you in 2022, seven years hence.
And please please please do not get lost near Teampall Nua (New Church) in HX tonight. If you do by some misfortune, then please find your bearings with all haste and get to hell out of there as fast as possible. You have been warned.
Just to assist you recognise it against the night sky, herewith and be extremely warned, New Church:
Have a good and safe All Hallows Eve!
MB
HX Report 