In two weeks will be Samhain/Halloween what do you do for traditions?

When my children were young I’d strap on my kilt and accompany them around the neighborhood “trick or treating.” Had no need to ring the door bell, I’d just play a tune on the pipes. I’d get as much treats as my children did, if fact I could use a bigger sporran! Also at dusk I’d go outside and pipe in the New Year on 31 October.

Now the children have grownup and married (no grandchildren yet), but I still want this day to be special. TO ME the real event of this time is “Fiele Na Marbh/Feast of the Dead,” a time to celebrate the thinness of the veil between this world and the next. A time when ancestral spirits may cross and commune with the living, so a lighted candle is placed in the window for them to find their way home. At the dinner table an extra place setting is placed for those visiting, and a special cup/glass is placed at their setting. The following prayer is then offered:

This is the night when the gateway between
our world and the spirit world is thinnest.
Tonight is a night to commune with those who came before.
Tonight I honor my ancestors.
Spirits of my fathers and mothers, I invite you,
and welcome you to join us for this night.
You watch over us always,
protecting and guiding us,
and tonight we give thanks.
Your blood runs in our veins,
your spirit is in our hearts,
your memories are in our souls.

[The surname genealogy is then recited: I am Garry mac Ralph mac Earl mac William mac William mac John O’Bryan, who is a direct descendant of the High-King Brian Boru of the Emerald Isle.]

We remember all of you.
You have passed away, but never forgotten,
and you live on within our DNA,
and within those who are yet to come.
Beannacht choiche [blessings forever]

Although society now has Halloween about vampires, ghost, gouls, witches, etc., and some would have this holiday or celebration totally abandoned, at least a portion of the true meaning of this day is observed before the revelry and “trick or treating” of the modern evening celebration.