Mconey.] 4U4: fiSiay 3, 



the 5'oung men strip to tlie waist and leap over or through the flames ; 

 this is clone backwards and forwards several times, and lie who braves the 

 greatest blaze is considered the victor over the powers of evil, and is 

 greeted with tremendous applause. When the fire burns still lower, the 

 young girls leap the flame, and those who leap clean over three times, 

 back and forward, will be certain of a speedy marriage and good luck in 

 after-life, with many children. The married women then walk through 

 the lines of the burning embers ; and when the fire is nearly burnt and 

 trampled down, the yearling cattle are driven through the hot ashes, and 

 their back is singed with a lighted hazel twig. These hazel rods are kept 

 safely afterwards, being considered of immense power to drive the cattle 

 to and from the watering places. As the fire diminishes the shouting 

 grows fainter, and the song and the dance commence ; while the profes- 

 sional story-tellers narrate tales of fairy-land, or of the good old times 

 long ago, when the kings and princes of Ireland dwelt amongst their own 

 people, and there was food to eat and wine to drink for all comers to the 

 feast at the king's house. When the crowd at length separate, every one 

 carries home a brand from the fire, and great virtue is attached to the 

 liglited hrone which is safely carried to the house without breaking or 

 falling to the ground. Many contests also arise amongst the young men, 

 for whoever enters his house first with the sacred fire brings the good 

 luck of the year with him." * 



Samhan, Hallow E'en, or All Souls' Day, November 1. 



We wil pass over several minor dates, chief among which is L'ldy day, 

 on the fifteenth of August, nearly corresponding with the ancient festival 

 of Lughnas, which has given its name to the month, but has now faded 

 from the popular recollection. Next comes the great festival of Samhan, 

 or November eve, calld in the eastern districts Hoi' eve. and better 

 known in this country as Hallow e'en, the eve preceding the first day of 

 November, designated in the calendar as the day of All Saints. This ap- 

 pears to have been a universal festival throughout pagan Europe in honor 

 of the goddess of fruits,! which probably accounts for the prominent part 

 playd by the apple in the modern celebration. So firmly wer the people 

 wedded to this pagan festival that the church was compeld to incorporate 

 it into the Christian calendar, merely changing the name so as to give it a 

 new significance. 



The Gaelic name of this festival is Sam' an {Sowan), November being 

 calld 7ni na Sam'ain, the month of Samhan. In ancient Ireland it was 

 the last of the five great fire festivals. Vallancey states that the festival 

 was dedicated to the god of fruits and seeds, and lasted throughout the 

 month of November.:]^ The only trace of fire worship remaining in con- 



* Lady Wilde, i, 214-5. 



t Hutchinson, " Northumberland," quoted in Brand. Antiquities, i, 378. 



X Vallancey, Collectanea, iii, Part ii, 443 passim. 



