The Primitive Gathering

Happy Hallowe'en!


We are all dressed for Hallowe'en here at the Lady's Repository Museum~ are YOU ready? The history of Hallowe'en actually comes from an ancient Celtic festival held on October 31, called 'Samhain'. This was the Celtic New Year's Eve. The Druids believed that the Lord of the Dead ruled the earth and this was the night that he allowed all the ghosts to come back and visit their old homes. They believed that faieries and goblins and witches and devils would cast spells on any human people that they came across while on their journey. People would carry lanterns carved from turnips with a lit piece of turf in them, to keep them safe on the roads. It is thought that our Modern 'Trick or Treating' evolved from them stopping at houses, to ask for more turf for their lanterns.
Goblins on the doorstep,
Phantoms in the air,
Owls on the witches' gateposts
Giving stare for share,
Cats on flying broomsticks,
Bats against the moon
Stirrings round fate~cakes
with a solemn spoon,
Whirling apple parings
Figures draped in sheets
Dodging, disappearing,
up and down the streets,
Jack-o-Lanterns grinning
Shadows on a screen,
Shreiks and starts and laughter-----
This is Hallowe'en!
~Dorothy Brown Thompson


Happy Hallowe'en from Diamond K Folk Art