Samhain, the ancient Celtic Festival that we now call Halloween, originated in Co. Meath more than 2,000 years ago. 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 Oiche Shamhna 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. The druids felt that this world and the otherworld were closest at Tlachtga and it was here that the festival of Samhain was started. The old year’s fires were extinguished and, after sunset, the ceremonial New Year Samhain fire was lit here. Today, the old Celtic ceremony at Tlachtga has been revived and we mix the ancient past and the twenty-first century with a re-enactment of the Celtic celebration starting with a torchlit procession from the Fair Green in Athboy, Co. Meath to the top of the Hill of Tlachtga, at 7pm on October 31st each year.
If you prefer the more traditional, scare-the-bejeesus-out-of-yourself style Halloween, then you won’t have to travel far this year. Meath Tourism are pulling out all the stops. Pucas and Potions Children’s Arts Day is a day of free activity for families in Athboy and takes place on Sunday, 25th. You’ll be able to make your own Puca Puppet, Halloween lantern, scary scabs and shiners. Enjoy spooky stories from around the world and learn about your future with the Brack of Fortune.
Highfield House in Trim has a nice cosy evening of story telling and music in the parlor with an open turf fire and Irish music on 28th October. There’s pumpkin carving, festive crafts, recipes and Halloween party ideas from Deirdre Rogers in Garlow Cross, Navan. Reknowned artist and sculptor, Betty Newman Maguire will help Get ready for Halloween in her workshops in Tearman Studios, Carnaross, Kells where she will inspire to carve crazy pumpkin lanterns, create a spooky totem pole lantern, help with mask making and creepy costumes.
If you (or the kids!) are feeling brave, visit Grove Gardens and Open Farm for the Halloween Spooktacular to face the eerie graveyard, tunnel of horrors and haunted woodland walk. For a bit of outdoor music Navan will be bustling with rhythm, melody and fun with entertainment from top class musicians breaking the beats on the streets (we’re rhyming already!) with the Samhain Soundsť Busking Festival from 24-26th October.
In Kells, there will be a Ceili mor organised by Kells Chamber of Commerce, a monster Fancy Dress party at Jack’s 
Railway Bar, Kells Spooky tour and a gourmet wine night at the Headfort Arms Hotel. If you are closer to Newgrange, where Meath’s oldest relatives rest, the Illustration workshop with Andrew Whitson might bring Halloween to life as he explores the stories of some of Ireland’s most fearsome mythological characters through workshops.
The Poe Show at the Solstice Arts Centre is a piece of gothic theatre and pays tribute to the master of macabre fiction, while Trim Musical Society are putting on interactive Halloween stories each day called the Gorey Tales of Trim, book at Trim Visitor Centre. Barm Brack making in Harvest Home Bakery, Trim, Kells Chamber of Commerce Ceili, A Halloween Trick or Treat Day at the Station House Hotel, a fancy dress disco at the Dunboyne Castle Hotel, a murder mystery weekend at Knightsbrook Hotel and a night of harvests, feasts and spiritual encounters at Dunsany Lodge in Trim. And these are only a flavour of whats on in Meath’s first “Spirits of Meath” Halloween festival, which runs from October 23rd- 31st.
