“Boys” said Meave to the boys “will one of yis tie this lucky charm around the foot of that criminal that we hanged earlier”. “You know it is Halloween” replied the boys. “Nera” said Meave “surely you are not scared”. “Of course not” shivered Nera #Halloween
As Nera walked towards the gallows, the demons of the glen screamed. “It’s shocking dark” he thought “but I’m sure everything will be grand” he mused “despite it being Samhain, darkness, horror and death and the door to the otherworld is probably open” #Hallloween
The body of the dead criminal swung limply on the gallows. “He looks horrible and scary” thought Nera. “Howya” said the dead criminal “Jesus Christ” yelped Nera anachronistically “Ya frightened the life outa me” #Halloween
“Nera” said the dead man “will you allow me to climb up on your back so you can carry me over to that house til we get a drink”. Nera was a bit surprised by this request but agreed to help the dead lad out; ”sure, jump up” #Halloween
When they got to the house they noticed it was surrounded by a lake of fire. “Whats this” asks Nera. “We can’t go in there” said the dead lad “they have already raked the ashes”. “But the lake of fire” asked Nera “Long story” said the corpse “there’s another house” #Halloween
Next house had a lake of water around it. “A lake of water” said Nera “at least it’s a bit more natural”. “Natural?” smiled the corpse “you ain’t seen nothing yet”. They went in and the corpse drank some bath-water. “Yock! - let’s rock and roll back to the gallows” #Halloween
We will stop for a minute to see what the story tells us about Halloween. The tale is set at Cruachan, Meave’s Connaught fortress, intimately associated with strange goings-on - a liminal landscape - the awful cave - the Cave of the Cats - entrance to the otherworld is nearby
Lets look for boundaries in this story as Halloween is all about the crossing of boundaries. The criminal -does not belong to society, he exists outside it. He is hanging -he is not on the ground, not fully in the air. He is dead, yet speaks. He can talk but can’t walk #Halloween
As soon as Nera agrees to carry the dead man, he has, unwittingly entered the world of the dead. We know the dead wish to return to the homestead at Halloween but confronted with a lake of fire, the dead man cannot enter the house #Halloween
They have raked the ashes” alludes to the tradition of leaving a fire in the hearth to welcome the dead on this night. Raking the ashes means extinguishing the fire. There is no welcome for the dead here. The lake of fire is what the dead see when tradition is broken #Halloween
If you do not leave a fire in the hearth on Halloween, you do not welcome your ancestors back to the homestead. The dead perceive this insult as a lake of fire between them and their families - an almost unforgivable act. #Halloween
At Halloween, time itself is disordered. You have not welcomed your family dead to their homestead, you have put your ancestors outside of tradition, you have made a criminal of your dead ancestor - it is your fault that they were hanged. The otherworld is unforgiving #Halloween
This part of the story points to the vital importance of following tradition. You must leave a fire burning in the hearth on Halloween night - to fail to do so is a disaster for your ancestors - by not welcoming them you are casting them off to a lake of fire #Halloween
At the next house, the dead man found only bath-water to drink. The symbolism is unmistakable; you must leave proper hospitality for the returning dead. He drank the dirty water and considered the insult worse to the original hanging - he preferred the gallows #Halloween
These stories tell us lots about what happens to our dead ancestors at Halloween. At Halloween, the dead return to their family homes and must be welcomed. The dead will not harm the living but by ignoring tradition, the living can harm the dead #Halloween
Tomorrow night we will continue to explore the Adventures of Nera and his journey in the Celtic otherworld- a vital story in understanding Halloween from the point of view of the otherworld. #Halloween
I am promoting Irish Folklore since 2012, I am always looking for followers- the more followers the further the stories go. Can you help #Halloween #IrishFolklore
An example of the importance of leaving a fire in the hearth for the dead; in 1942, Barney Gargan’s father in Cavan, the morning after Halloween, found footprints in the ashes pointing towards the door - a clear sign that the children should emigrate #Halloween #Heartbreak
And if the dead left his mother heartbroken, all the children who emigrated did well for themselves. The ancestral dead made sure they were ok. What would have happened if Barney’s fatherhad “raked the ashes” on Halloween night - it doesn’t bear thinking about #Halloween
So here we have Halloween being about “trick and treating” (and we will see what this originally was) without a thought about our dead granny (she won’t thank you for breaking tradition - remember the ‘lake of fire’), we will go at it again tomorrow night #Halloween

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More from @MeaveofConnaugh

2 Jul
I’ve arrived at Newgrange to find that it is closed, I’m not having much luck on this otherworldly journey. Not to worry tho, what had Newgrange to do with Cuchulainn? #CattleRaid
The Ulstermen were surprised when a flock of birds landed on the green outside Emann Macha. They were further surprised to see that each pair of birds were linked by a silver chain “Strange” they thought #CattleRaid
The birds ate all the grass “let’s chase them” thought the Ulstermen. They chased the birds all the way to Newgrange (it would take 17 hours and 26 minutes to walk it). Supposing they ran some of the way, probably 10 hours - fair play lads #CattleRaid
Read 10 tweets
1 Jul
I’m about to head off up the mountain to where Cuchulainn killed the hound. #CattleRaid
I’m back down from Slieve Gullion, the Ulstermen have not yet installed WiFi in their mountain fort but I got some great photos #CattleRaid
If you want to hear how Cuchulainn received his name, please retweet #CattleRaid
Read 15 tweets
30 Jun
I’ve arrived in Finea just now. It’s east of Granard and the place where Fergus turned the army southwards. This aroused suspicions - was he leading the army astray - into an ambush perhaps. “Hang on” thought Meave “where is the Ulster army””Fergus come here” she said #CattleRaid
I passed a few interesting roadside memorials. Here’s one about an ambush near Ballinalee near Granard #CattleRaid
And another memorial here in the lovely village of Finea, to Myles “the Slasher” O’Reilly, a hero of the Irish Confederate War 1641 - 50. #CattleRaid
Read 17 tweets
30 Jun
The army of the men of Ireland resumed their march in the morning. They were heading for the fords on the Shannon at Termonbarry. The names of the places they passed tells us it was a very wet place, the Marshy Lakebed, the PeatRidge. It is difficult country. #CattleRaid
They were following the route of one of the four great roads of Ireland - Sligh Asail. The word Sligh means trackway, the word Asail means Donkey (it probably doesn’t of course but sounds too much like the Irish word for Donkey for us not to use it) The Donkey Track #CattleRaid
If the army looked back West from Slieve Ban (if they had a drone) they would be able to see the place from which they came [Slieve Ban to Rathcroghan Image 1] #CattleRaid
Read 13 tweets
29 Jun
I’ve left the terrible entrance to the otherworld, without too much trouble, except covered in mud from climbing into it. I am now sitting on/in Maeve’s fort. It is right here that the Cattle Raid began, and this exact spot where Maeve and her husband quarreled #CattleRaid
We will have many more digressions but now it is time to start the Cattle Raid. It started with a quarrel and ended in the destruction of two kingdoms. Maeve and her husband, Ailill, were in bed - how often do those words preceded a row? #CattleRaid
“Maeve” said Ailill “Aren’t you lucky I married you” “§$*#@“ (an expressive and ancient expletive) replied Maeve “you are only king because I have allowed you be king”. And so began the fatal quarrel. “But I am richer than you” continued the innocent husband #CattleRaid
Read 8 tweets
29 Jun
I have arrived at Queen Meave’s Connaught fortress at Rathcroghan. But before we start talking about it, I’ll first visit the entrance to the otherworld - the dreadful cave Oweynacat - the deceivingly innocently named Cave of the Cats #CattleRaid
This cave is referenced several times in the Cattle Raid. It is the home of the goddess of war and death - the Morrigan who causes all sorts of trouble later on. Magical and greedy pigs live here, also cats #CattleRaid
A dreadfully destructive fairy also lives here who burns Rathcroghan every Halloween. Women in the shape of wolves hide in the cave as well. It truly is an awful place #CattleRaid
Read 9 tweets

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