Tap into the spiritual and healing power of the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain with unique wellness activities that renew the body and soul.
The ancient Celtic festival of Samhain marked the beginning of winter and was a time of celebration, involving lighting fires, feasting, music and storytelling. It is well known as the precursor to modern-day Halloween, to which it lends its focus on the supernatural. But alongside this, it is also considered to be a time for reflection and healing, and communion with nature.
This year, among many events that will explore this side of Samhain is a new experience at the magnificent Powerscourt Estate in County Wicklow. The Wonder of Trees experience (2–3 November) aims to spark wonder, and promote learning, connection and restoration around trees. The sessions will include tree and ecology walks with renowned horticulturists, conservationists and ecologists and panel discussions about the important role trees play in biodiversity and healthy ecosystems. There will also be a special Samhain-themed storytelling fundraising show.
This is one of many Samhain events taking place in Ireland’s Ancient East where the landscape, which includes the sacred hills of Tara and Uisneach, is linked to ancient rituals. At Samhain, many people visit these sacred spaces to feel their energy and connect with the past.
One of the island’s biggest Samhain/Halloween festivals, Púca, takes place 31 October – 3 November in County Meath with a stellar line-up of performers and events. Alongside the entertainment there are opportunities to delve into the mystical at a Sacred Songs and Sound Bath Concert or clear your head and connect with nature in a Hot Box Sauna Samhain experience.
In County Wicklow, you can join a weekend retreat (25–27 October) that explores the dream state and power of ritual and dance; In Darkness Dreaming celebrates Samhain as a time of letting go. And in beautiful Carlingford a Samhain yoga retreat (25–28 October) invites you to turn your gaze inwards and develop mindfulness.
Over in County Tipperary The Samhain Experience is a two-day transformative retreat filled with sound healing, meditation, shamanic journeying and ancestral healing. Visiting ancient sacred sites in counties Tipperary and Limerick, it offers the chance to reconnect with nature and with the ancestors through a powerful shamanic ceremony and rhythmic drumming event.
The experience also includes a Samhain mask-making experience, where participants craft an aghaidh-fidil (the Irish term for face mask). This is what people would have done in ancient times so that they could wear the masks to walk among the spirits at Samhain and it’s how the custom of wearing Halloween masks came about.
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