Celtic New Year Celebration

Saturday October 31, 2009 7-10 PM

A Time Travellers Celtic New Year Masquerade Ball

Pre-registration is required as space is limited.

Featured Performances

Music by Almagamated Pixie Works

                               Community Honors Awards Presentations

Event Details .

Picture the Celtic soul throughout time, and make it a costume!

Reckoned by the moon like many traditional holidays, the Celtic New Year
is celebrated near the full moon after the rising of the star cluster
Pleiades.  Called Samhuinn or Samhain these traditional names literally
mean "summers end".

Celebrate in front of a blazing fire to live music, story telling, bob
for apples and carve turnip skull lanterns. Bring seasonal 'finger food' to
share and photos of your loved ones who have passed - on to add to the
shrine, and enjoy a bit of the traditional ceremony of the holiday.

Disguises are a must!
 

Admission fees are $6 general admission    $5 seniors over 62   $2children under 13
 or included in the yearly $36. membership dues. Pre-registration is required as space is limited. The event is wheel-chair accessible and there is free parking.

Pre-register at:
Mrs. Thompson's Herbs, Gifts & Folklore
347 West Fifth Avenue, Eugene

Presented by An Ceangal Mara
A Non Profit Celtic Cultural Arts & Education Organization
www.seantir.org

Throughout The Evening

Warm up by a Blazing Fire

Bring a photo of a loved one who has passed- on to add to the People of Peace shrine

Bring seasonal 'finger food' to share in the Feasting

Bobbing for apples & Turnip skull carving

Enjoy featured performaces & Community Honors Awards Presentations

The Lore

Celtic Holidays are reckoned by the moon just as are many traditional Holidays.  The Celtic New Year is as distinct as the Chinese and Jewish New Year. It is celebrated at the first full moon after rising of the star cluster Pleiades.  Called Samhuinn or Samhain (pronounced Sav'im in Scottish Gaelic and Sauw'in in Irish Gaeilge) and Samonios in the old Gaulish language, meaning "summers end".

A reflective, introspective time when the barriers between realms are thin, it is a time for communion with our ancestors. It is also a time for completions, for honoring and acknowledging teachers, mentors, parents, and other guides.

All household fires are extinguished and are re-lit from a communal fire.  We gather in front of this fire to tell stories and sing songs for and about our deceased, especially esteemed ancestors, sometimes hundreds and thousands of years after their death.  Turnips are carved into skull effigies and lit with candles to frighten off any visits from those who might not mean us well.  We bob for apples as they represent the soul as it moves through the other worlds, helping them to cross over to join us again.

These are very old and arcane traditions that have lasted and are enjoyed by young and old quite joyously even today. Modernly, fireworks are used freely and much of the same merriment in the standard calendrical New Year celebration is enjoyed. 

Registration Information Click Here

all contents © 1997-2009 An Ceangal Mara Foundation

 What is Celtic?, Celtic Calendar, Historic Celtic Clothing

An Ceangal Mara Foundation
347 West Fifth Avenue, Eugene, Oregon, 97401
Tel: 541-686-6136    Email: celtic@efn.org