Evenings At ireland (Well, At Malarkey's)
Here are two Halloween traditions in Ireland that we want to transfer to Malarkey's! Guess we better talk to Pat (the owner) and Oscar (the manager).
The celebration of Halloween began in Ireland in about 1000 AD so its no wonder that there are so many Irish Halloween traditions that continue around the world every year.
Back then Halloween was a pagan festival called “Samhain” meaning “Summer’s End”. The Celts believed that on the eve of Halloween dead spirits would visit the mortal world. They lit bonfires to keep evil spirits away and dressed in disguises.
Although our Halloween is less about dead spirits and more about having fun and dressing up there are some traditional aspects of an Irish Halloween that continue to this day.
The Bonfire
Samhain was seen as the end of summer but also the beginning of another year. It was also the one day of the year when spirits could walk the earth. The community would gather together and light huge fires to ward off bad fortune for the coming year and any evil spirits.
Some believe that people extinguished their fires in the hearth at home before they left and would reignite them using an ember from the bonfire, for good luck. The day after the bonfire the ashes were spread across the fields to further ward off bad luck for the farmers during the year.
It was also traditionally believed that the bonfire encourages dreams especially of your future husband or wife. It was said that if you drop a cutting of your hair into the embers of the fire, the identity of your first husband would be revealed.
Blind-folded Cabbage Picking
Blind folded local girls would go out into the field and pull up the first cabbage they stumbled upon.
If the cabbage had a lot of clay attached to the roots their future lover would have money.
If the girl ate the cabbage the nature of their future husband would be revealed, bitter or sweet.
Malarkey's Gets Decorated Up 09/27/2017
We do our Malarkey's thing almost every Monday and this season was no exception!. Perhaps we will see the ghost ship?
Relax In Peace... We do... We go into the dining room!
Looks like it really on fire
Sue is not worried at all!
Where is my wine??? Now she is worried!
On To The Celebration Of Friends!
We met up with Crazy Greg and David first and then Irene came in to join the crowd. We talked and shared for several hours! Great fun!!
A spooky sky indeed
Those are now GOST BOATS! That's because you mus need
spirits to go on them this late in the afternoon!
The sun is peeking out of the clouds!
Bang... One last gasp!
We were so busy jabbering that Paul didn't get any pictures of the gang... You know what we look like. It's reassuring that friends can just get carried away with visiting and allow the world to go by!
We headed home to relax but first, we needed to make some phone calls!
Sue looks serious as she talks to her sister!
