Samhain

Stories tagged Samhain:

• The Adventure of Nera Aug 14, 2025

  

  In the days when Queen Medb ruled Connacht from her great fortress at Cruachan, she was married to King Ailill, and their court was filled with the finest warriors, the wisest druids, and the most skilled artisans in all Ireland. Among Ailill’s most trusted warriors was a man named Nera, known for his courage, his loyalty, and his unshakeable nerve in the face of any danger.

  It was the eve of Samhain, the most mysterious and dangerous night of the year, when the boundaries between the world of the living and the world of the dead grew thin, and strange things walked the earth. The great feast was in full swing in the royal hall of Cruachan, with warriors boasting of their deeds, bards singing ancient songs, and the fires burning bright to keep the darkness and its terrors at bay.

• The Fairy Host on Halloween Night Aug 13, 2025

  

  On Halloween the old road remembers older feet. The Fairy Host rides with a sound like wind at keyholes and leaves like coins shaken in a purse. You do not bar the door against them; you do not fling it wide. You set a candle and sweep the threshold and leave a bit of bread and a clean cup of water on the step, and then you keep your mouth and your manners.

• The Morrígan and the Dagda at Samhain Aug 12, 2025

  

  When the wheel of the year turned toward Samhain, the night when the veil between the worlds grew thin, the gods themselves felt the pull of ancient powers stirring. It was on such a night, with the harvest gathered and winter approaching, that one of the most fateful meetings in Irish mythology took place – the encounter between the Dagda, the Good God of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and the Morrígan, the phantom queen who ruled over war, fate, and sovereignty.