Spirits of Meath Halloween Festival

Be careful the rest of the country, Meath appears to be taking ownership of Hallowe'en. This follows its successful take over Irish pre-history (Newgrange etc) and Celtic Ireland (Tara etc). [Did "The Celts" ever really exist or are they a Bord Fáilte invention?]

Anyway from October 22nd - 31st 2010 County Meath is bringing you Ireland's biggest and most electrifying Halloween Festival!!

See the launch video on YouTube.

This is what they say:
Samhain, the ancient Celtic Festival that we now call Halloween, originated here in Co. Meath more than 2,000 years ago. Samhain marks the end of the old Celtic Year and the beginning of the New Year. The Celts believed that this was a time of transition, when the veil between our world and the next came down, and the spirits of all who had died since the last Oíche Shamhna (Night of Samhain) moved on to the next life.

One of the main spiritual centres of the ancient Celts was located on top of the hill of Tlachtga, now called the Hill of Ward, near Athboy, Co. Meath. The druids felt that this world and the otherworld were closest at Tlachtga and it was here that the festival of Samhain, or Halloween, was started. The old year’s fires were extinguished and, after sunset, the ceremonial New Year Samhain fire was lit here. Torches were lit from this sacred fire and carried to seven other hills around the county including Tara and Loughcrew, and then on to light up the whole countryside.

The full programmes is here.