Samhain and the Feast of All Saints and All Souls
At this time of year when nature sleeps, we pause and consider our own humanity as temporal and as eternal beings.
Book of Kells.
Samhain, a threshold moment, is traditionally the beginning of the Celtic year. Samhain marks the end of the old and the beginning of a whole new cycle.
It is a good time to ask at which threshold am I now standing?
“At this time in my life, what am I leaving? Where am I about to enter?… A threshold is not simply a boundary, but it is a frontier that cannot be crossed without the heart being passionately engaged and woken up. At this threshold, a great complexity of emotion comes alive: confusion, fear, excitement, sadness, hope. This is one of the reasons such vital crossings were always clothed in ritual.”
John O’Donohue
Samhain was that time of year when our ancestors believed that the ‘thin veil’ between time and eternity could easily become transparent. In was at this season that the Christian Community choose to celebrate the feast of All Saints and All Souls
Celtic Christians believed that the saints were with them as they went about their daily tasks.
“Celtic Saints are approachable, close at hand, woven quite naturally into life.”
Esther de Wall
Admission: €15.00 (incl. tea/coffee)
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