Did you know that Halloween is originally a Celtic feast, dating back 2500 years? Called « Samhain » in Irish, it marks the end of the daylight-filled season and the beginning of the dark season.
The CCI celebrates Samhain this October 31, with a touch of the Mexican Dia de Muertos! A craft workshop, readings, performance and music evoke this autumn equinox which belongs neither to the year ending nor to the one beginning. The Day of the Dead will rub up against Oíche Shamhna - the night when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld can be more easily crossed... when doorways or portals open, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into our world.
Dress up for this festive celebration and immerse yourself in the spirit of the evening!
5pm: Children's workshop with Mexican artist Ana Quiroz
(€5, reservation necessary - places limited - in English, Spanish and French, 7+)
This workshop “An alebrije in your country” allows children to discover the story behind these little fantastical Mexican sculptures, and paint their own skull or alebrije pencil with artist Ana Quiroz
7pm Candelight reading by authors Niamh Boyce and Tim MacGabhann
(€5, reservation necessary - in English)
In our atmospheric Old Library, Niamh Boyce reads excerpts from her fascinating novel Her Kind which tells the story of Petronella, the first woman in Ireland and Britain to be burnt at the stake for witchery 700 years ago this year. Tim MacGabhann, an author and poet who has spent many years in Mexico, responds to the themes of Samhain with chosen tales.
8.30pm: "Spirits and Souls" - Music and performance by June McGrane and Macdara Smith, with Still Underpressure
(5€, reservation recommended - 15+)
This unique ensemble has prepared a frighteningly humorous extravaganza for us to finish our Samhain celebrations off in terrific style!