Press Release
Season of Samhain / Nos Calan Gaeaf 2024
Exciting News!
Author A.C. Fisher Aldag has signed a contract with City Owl Press, a small but vibrant New York-based publishing company. City Owl is well-known for novels in the genres of fantasy, romance, and romantasy, featuring strong women characters and fantastical elements.
A.C. is delighted to work with City Owl Press for her novel entitled Woman Afraid of Water, the first book of the AmeriCelts series. A.C.’s first novel will be released in the Spring/ Summer season of 2026.
“As an editor, you are always looking for the book that will insert itself into the hearts of readers, and A.C. Fisher Aldag’s Woman Afraid of Water is exactly that sort of book,” said Danielle DeVor, Editor at City Owl Press. “I am overjoyed to be working with A.C. and look forward to bringing The AmeriCelts into the minds of many.”
A.C. is the author of several Pagan spirituality articles for BBI Media’s Witches and Pagans magazine, entries in periodicals from Llewellyn Worldwide, and the non-fiction book Common Magick, released by Llewellyn in Dec. 2019. A.C. presents workshops, classes, and ceremonies about British Isles folk magic for Pagan gatherings across the Midwest. She also produces the Bangor Apple Press for her tiny, underserved community.
Before the new release, please check out A.C.’s pages on Facebook, including the British Isles Folkloric Tradition, featuring holiday customs, folk-plays, cultural info, and megaliths, and Author A.C. Fisher Aldag, with links to events, book reviews, and more. Free articles, ceremonies, and stories by A.C. are available on her website, acfisheraldag.com
A list of classes and workshops for events is available on request.
Thank you and Bendythion (blessings)!

Dave as Arawn at a Samhain Bonfire
​photo by Karel Sebek

Samhain History Part 2
            Today we resume our observations about Halloween / Samhain / Nos Calan Gaeaf customs. As always, I’ll delve into the folk magick aspects as found in anthropological evidence, meaning art, song, legends, folklore, and customs.
           We’ll start with “Was this really the end of the year / the Celtic New Year?”
         So, the evidence: We’ll begin with the song “Deck the Halls with Boughs of Holly”. That was not originally a Christmas carol, and it didn’t have much to do with holly. It was called “Nos Galan” which means “night before the new year”. It was sung in the Cymraeg /Welsh language, at the new year – what is now Halloween, before the custom was shifted to conventional calendar new year. The earliest mention I can find for the tune is in the 16th century. The lyrics were reinterpreted in the English version by Thomas Oliphant in the 1860s. You can listen to the original song on You Tube, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U5onj-YrRMQ
          The lyrics, according to Wikipedia:
             Goreu pleser ar nos galan,
             Tŷ a thân a theulu diddan,
             Calon lân a chwrw melyn,
             Pennill mwyn a llais y delyn.
Translation:
             The best pleasure on new year's eve,
             Is house and fire and a pleasant family,
             A pure heart and blonde ale,
            A gentle song and the voice of the harp
 
Remember to add the fa-la-las at the end of each line!
 
     The Celts divided the year into two parts, Summer and Winter. Summertime began at Beltane, and Wintertime commenced at Samhain / Nos Galan Gaeaf – translated, Gaeaf literally means “Winter” in Cymraeg. Samhain created a balance w/ Beltane as the Dark and Light halves of year. Since Beltane was devoted to growth, fertility, sowing seeds, and life, it follows that Samhain honors the harvest and death.
Much emphasis was placed on surviving the long, cold winter – the slaughter and harvest ensuring that there was enough food, gathering firewood for heat and herbs for medicine, and insulating and re-thatching the home. As mentioned in the previous article, Samhain / Winter was a time for end-of-the-year activities like paying the rent and making good on one’s debts. This was a part of the code of anrhydedd, honor – a fresh start in a new year with no financial obligations hanging over one’s head.
     Entities and their legends also have to do with the finality of wintertime. In folklore there is Cailleach Bhéra of Ireland and Scotland, whose name means “cloak”, likely referring to her mantle of snow. Her name is also a metaphor for “old woman” or “hag”. She is said to bring the season of Winter to the land. A rock formation in Ireland is named after her.
     A similar being is the Mallt y Nos of Cymru /Wales, the spooky “old lady of the night” who accompanies the Death God, Arawn, on his Wild Hunt to round up the lost souls of the dead. She was called Mathilda by the Norse and was said to ride a broomstick. Perhaps she is one precursor of the Witch images? Neither of these chilly ladies have much literature written about them – most of their legends come from folklore.
      Speaking of the dead, our next question: “Was Samhain really a Festival of the Dead?”
     For the answer to this enquiry, we must first take into account all of the pre-Celtic passage tombs and barrows, aka fancy gravesites. These were built by a civilization much older than the Celts, during the Mesolithic era. Several of these stone monuments can be found in Ireland, including the Grange stone circle at the Mound of Hostages at Tara, which is discussed on the Heritage Ireland website. The Loughcrew Megalithic Cemetery, Slieva na Calliagh in Irish, (which means Hill of the Witch!) has a similar archeological significance. This 5000-year-old monument has a passage where the rising sun illuminates the inner chamber of the tomb, during the astronomic date of Samhain.
     The Proto-Celts and Celts made a big deal out of honoring their deceased loved ones as well as their brave warriors. The beloved dead were buried with elaborate grave goods, including jewelry, weapons, vessels of food, and sometimes even horses. The oldest known ceremonial human burial was found in Wales, now called “The Red Lady of Paviland”. Actually not a lady at all, the warrior’s skeleton is covered with red oche powder and placed in the fetal position, simulating rebirth, while numerous grave goods were interred with him. The Celts were also really into decapitation, and made effigies of the heads of their enemies and loved ones, alike... as well as hanging their skulls from the rafters!
     The Celts / Britons also believed that they could speak with their dead loved ones on three of the Ysbrednos or spirit nights – Beltane eve, Midsummer, and Samhain. There are many instances of “second sight”, prophecy, and divination in Celtic literature. The customs of spirit communication, augury and fire-gazing still existed right up until the 1930s in the British Isles. Participants used stones placed on the hearth, engraved with initials, to determine who would live and who would die during the winter months. Young ladies had rituals for augury, most of which focused on finding a mate. There are recipes for “flying ointment” and other hallucinogens / entheogens used for astral travel and divination. A great deal of Celtic / British literature had to do with spirit communication. Shakespeare himself had several representations of ghosts and spirits who could speak prophesy to living humans: Banquo in MacBeth, Julius Caesar, Hamlet’s dad, and of course the fortune-telling spirit of Henry the Seventh.
            We wish you the spookiest Samhain, the most blessed Nos Calan Gaeaf, and a delightful Halloween. See below for a couple of events local to Michiganders:
 

Rhia, Shad, and I at Harvest Moon Acres, Gobles, MI

Samhain History Evidence
     It’s that time of the year again, when ghosts and spectres roam the land, and academic-types come out of the woodwork to disparage Traditional Witchcraft legends about Samhain / Halloween / Nos Calan Gaeaf. Including whether or not the name was actually Samhain, although it’s the name for the month of November in various Gaelic languages. Pronounced Sow-hen (unless you’re from Chicago, where it’s pronounced like it’s spelled!)
     The holiday is called Allantide in Kerneweck (Cornish), also Nos Kalen Gwaf or Gwav “night before the new year”, Hop tu Naa in Manx, Samhain in Irish Gaelic “summer’s done”, noz an Anaon in Breton “night of the dead”, Oidhche Shamhna in Scottish Gaelic “night before November”. Norse traditions call it Alfablót which means “sacrifice to the Elves”. The holiday commemorates the beginning of Winter or the Dark Half of the year.
     Samhain can mean “Summer is Over” as Sam /Gam = Summer, Ain = is not. (This may well be where the word “ain’t” comes from.) Yet Samhain also might have its roots in a proto-Indo-European word for “gathering”. The Romans noted that Celtic people hosted a huge blowout during the final days of harvest, with bonfires and singing.
     During the late 1700s, Cymraeg poet Iolo Morganwg was involved in a Druidic revival, and also Welsh nationalism. This is a case where nationalistic ideals were not a bad thing, as Cymric people were very much repressed by the English. Anyway, Morganwg called the holiday Nos Calan Gwaef, which means “night before the calends of winter”.
    “Fact-checker” historians seem to base most of their theories on written evidence, which does not help in studying pre-literate peoples. Other sources can include archeological evidence, the study of folklore, the study of language, and anthropological studies of existing populations. Some of the ancestral customs are still carried on today.
    Many scholars debate if Halloween traditions were mostly adaptations of Christianity. No doubt, some were, indeed. Sir James George Fraizer speculated that the All Souls’ and All Saints’ celebrations were moved from springtime to early November by the Pope, for the express purpose of supplanting Samhain. There’s several customs which have Christian parallels, such as Trick-or-Treating resembling Soulin’ while trading labor and song for soul cakes. It’s a chicken-or-egg situation, as there are many house-to-house begging traditions in the Celtic lands, several of which have no Christian overtones, whatsoever.
     There is plenty of evidence about Halloween being the end of the year, as well as a day to honor the dead. For one, during the Anglo-Saxon incursion into Britain, many Celtic Britons fled to the north of France, which is still called Britany, and these folk are still called Bretons. Their name for the holiday literally translates as “night of the dead”. They also tell the story about l’Ankou, a psychopomp who collects souls of the dead. His name is closely related to the Cymraeg /Welsh yr Angau. Both of these names translate as the Death. The specter, wearing a floppy black hat, comes in a wagon with creaky wheels, drawn by a spectral white horse, to gather the spirits. He can be seen on many old gravestones in the region. Yr Angau was later the inspiration for the Grim Reaper, scythe and all. No Christianization of that one!

Halloween / Nos Calan Gaeaf is one of the four Ysbrednos, which is Cymraeg for Spirit Nights. There is plenty of existing lore about fairies, spirits, and other beings which are and were active on this night. The Hwch Ddu Gwta, an enormous black pig with a cut tail, is said to follow travelers to eat them at the beginning of winter. Crops must be harvested prior to Halloween /Samhain, or they become the property of the Puca /Pwca, a gigantic horse-like figure who can destroy homes and crops. These agricultural monsters may represent various Celtic god-forms, such as the Morrygan or Rhiannon.
     The legends of frightening beasts may have come from the custom of culling the herds, driving some livestock to market, and slaughtering others. There are written records to show the sale of animals and the final harvest of the agricultural year. Not only that, but it makes good sense – we wait until it’s cold to slaughter and preserve animals for food, to reduce spoilage. However, butchering is a gross, bloody undertaking (see what I did there? undertaking, hee hee) and may have given rise to some spooky tale-telling.
     In England and Ireland, Halloween /Samhain was a Quarter Day. This meant that farmers were expected to pay rents and taxes, and make good on their debts . It also makes sense to do that AFTER the harvest and slaughter is completed, and people have money to spend. What is now November first was considered the end of the year, when financial issues had to be settled.
I’ll write some more about Samhain / Halloween /Nos Calan Gwaef traditions in a subsequent post.
      Enjoy the Season!

Final Harvest at Our House