Happy Samhain!

Happy Samhain! And what in the Sam hill is Samhain? Well, first of all, let's start with the pronunciation. I know "Sam hill" and "Samhain" sounded good to you until right about now, when I tell you that Samhain is pronounced SOW-en (rhymes with chowin'). Samhain is a pre-Christian Irish pagan holiday, and the source of a lot of our Halloween traditions.

Like the Day of the Dead, Samhain is considered the time during the year when our world and the world of magic, spirits, souls of the dead, and fairies are closest. A PhD candidate in Irish folklore explains to us that while people were cooking for the ancient festivities, they would send their children around to get supplies from neighbors (apparently, "May I borrow a cup of sugar?" has been around since even before there was sugar). But to protect them from any harmful spirits, they would hide the children's identities with masks and disguises. And voilà! They're trick-or-treating.

Except that now it's not a cup of sugar, it's more like an enormous bag of individually wrapped blocks of sugar.

We thought only Americans really did Halloween, but showing up in Ireland at Halloween time turns out to be a happy stroke of luck. This country is fully decorated and crazy for the holiday. Our Halloween actually started two days early, at Bunratty, when the girls dress up with their new Irish friends (the daughters of my old Irish friend, Brendan). One thing we notice is that the children in Ireland tend to dress up with traditional scary/creepy costumes. We don't see one single princess, and the only foofy dresses are the torn ones on the bloody brides. At a place as Disney-picturesque as Bunratty, it's utterly refreshing not to have even a whiff of Disney princess (or Star Wars for that matter!).  Heading out from Brendan's farmhouse, where we're staying for the week, we have Ellen as a witch, Gigi as a gypsy, Pippa as a leopard, and Catherine, the black cat, who is far too adorable to bring anybody bad luck. 

 

 

By Halloween itself, Ellen and Catherine and family are back in Dublin. So left to our own devices, we find out from a group of teenagers where the trick-or-treating hotspots are in the town nearest to the farmhouse, which is Athenry, County Galway. We are now experts on where to get the goods in this town. The trick-or-treating looks a lot like what I knew growing up. The rules seem to be the same; if the house is decorated and/or lit up, it's fair game. Despite how lonely the scene looks in the photo on the left, the truth is that there are plenty of other children in costume and making the rounds, as you can see when several groups converge on this obviously-open-for-candy household.

 

Yes, prowling around the graveyard of the nearly 800 year old Athenry abbey ruins is spooky. And certainly the gypsy and leopard are scary....

 

But not as scary as several huge bags of candy and junk food. Among the candies, you will notice there are none of the American-style bite-sized Snickers I sneak out of my girls' bags each year, nor any of the Toffifees I was hoping would end up in a European trick-or-treat bag. Sigh. Doesn't look much like a North American trick-or-treat haul, does it?

But wait. It gets weirder. Yes, weirder than Banana Skids, Fizzy Pops, and Fruit Pastilles. Try looking through your kids' Halloween booty and finding snack bags of Worcester, Salt & Vinegar, and Smoky Bacon chips or, worse yet, Chickatees -- the chicken-flavored puffs.

Now that's scary!

 

 

 

 

Mead and Mess

Bunratty Castle, Caisleán Bhun Raithe, in County Clare near Limerick, feels both authentic and totally Disneyfied at the same time. This is not a complaint, mind you. It's actually quite a pleasant combination. Here's a place that screams "medieval!" and "country!" yet simultaneously "clean!" and "not smelly!" The current structure is basically a 15th century castle, though it was built, burned, rebuilt, razed, rebuilt, and attacked for about 500 years before that. I'm perfectly happy to miss that particular period of authenticity.

Bringing the medieval Irish authenticity barometer down a notch today is the fact that Bunratty is dressed up for a Halloween celebration. I don't know if the Bobby and old-timey guy in front of the J.J. Corry tabacco shop would always be dressed that way. But, given the quaintness of the folk village that lies in the shadow of the castle, it's a distinct possibility.

 

The highlight of Bunratty for us is the medieval dinner, with period music. Pippa can not believe that we are really going to eat dinner in a castle. Until we actually sit down, she is convinced I am pulling her leg. It turns out that even though there are very few children at the dinner, I think we're the ones who've planned it perfectly. It's a great thing to do with kids this age. They are in hysterics when one of the other guests gets thrown into the dungeon and has to sing his way back to the Lord and Lady's good graces. They even request a visit to the dungeon themselves. They are at that magical age and will believe almost anything, and they really feel like they've gone back in time. A time when busty wenches served ribs that hinted of Southwestern US BBQ followed by fluffy, refrigerated  blancmange desserts.

Along with the live period music, one of the best parts is that forks were not a regular part of dining until one or two hundred years later than the castle's 15th century theme. So the kids get to rip into the chicken and vegetables (as well as the more normal finger foods like ribs and bread) with their hands. In keeping with the times, they are also allowed to stab their food and eat off their knives. So they're not complaining about any small historical anomolies. Look, who am I to gripe about anachronisms, when we bring our daughters to a medieval dinner dressed as a gypsy and a leopard?

 

  

And of course, this being a medieval meal, instead of Guinness or even wine, we have honey mead. This is such a Bunratty medieval dinner tradition that later, when we are in Dublin at a pizza restaurant and the waitress walks up just in time to hear the single word "mead", she immediately asks, "So, did you eat at Bunratty, then?" It's honey wine and so sweet, even my high-school, Bartles-&-James-wine-cooler-loving self would have been happy to down a ceramic mug of it. Here's my honey, drinking the honey.

Despite the festivities today, the kids are counting down the days till the real holiday. More on Halloween, well, on Halloween.