#Bonfires are a Samhain tradition that are still part of celebrations on Halloween here in #Ireland to this day.
These bonfires and new #fires were lit for #protection - scaring off the spirits that resided in darkness. They also might have provided some reassurance in a time before electricity, symbolising the light and warmth of the sun that would return after winter.
Feasting
The fruits of the harvest were enjoyed at feasts around these fires, too. Livestock specially selected for the event were roasted, with some burnt on the #fire as offerings to the spirits. And unlike the one-night-only event of Halloween today, Samhain of long ago would have gone on for days and, according to some sources, up to a week! Quite the party!
#Samhain and the start of the #Celtic #New #Year
Samhain - The turning of the year
For our #ancestors, the new day began at #sundown. So Samhain began at twilight, Oíche Shamhna, on October 31st. With the sun's setting, the old year was seen to die, and the long dark of winter that started the new year was heralded in.
Livestock were brought down to winter grazing to keep them safe in the cold months. People retreated indoors, too, believing that the boundary between our world and the Otherworld, the world of the spirits, was at its thinnest point of the year. The dead were believed to cross into the world of the living, and spirits like the #banshee, #púca, and the Aes #Sídh roamed the land at this liminal time.
https://www.myirishjeweler.com/eu/blog/samhain-and-celtic-new-year/
