We’re getting close to Halloween again, that festive occasion of trick-or-treating and jack-o’-lanterns. It’s a common myth that Halloween was originally called Samhain (pronounced SOW-in), after the ancient Celtic festival held after each harvest season to mark the coming of winter.
In fact, Halloween evolved from Samhain and is named after All Hallows Eve. After Christianity reached the Celtic lands, the Church retained some of the old pagan traditions surrounding the festival, such as bonfires, dressing up, etc. I believe the whole candy thing came in much later though.
An intriguing goddess in Irish mythology is the Morrigan or ‘Phantom Queen’. During Samhain, this formidable goddess is supposed to be at her most potent.
She’s often portrayed as a trio of war sisters – Badb, Macha and Nemain – and was often invoked before battles to help slay the enemy. Whether The Morrigan is a combined divine force of all three goddesses or manifests separately as their individual goddesses at different times of battle is unclear. Maybe someone can educate me.
- Badb is the screaming wind that announces the storm and tells you what it will bring. She foretells death.
- Macha is the sovereign land the storm passes over — the endurance, the right to rule, the wages of conflict.
- Nemain is the lightning and frenzy — the madness that drives the warriors into the heart of battle. She is the scream in the storm of war.
There is a horror film called The Morrigan, directed by Colum Eastwood, I’ve been waiting to see. It came out this year, premiered in Galway in July, but still doesn’t have a cinema release date. It’s about an archaeologist who uncovers an ancient tomb in Ireland and releases The Morrigan. Vibes of The Mummy, methinks. Still, I can’t wait since it has an initial 8.2 IMDB rating.