Surprisingly, the earliest record of Samhain being a time 'when the veil between worlds grows thin' is from the 1970s. The original Irish sources say instead that 'the mounds of Ireland were open' at Samhain and that nothing could be hidden in them. #FolkloreThursday
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The mounds appear to have been thought of as sealed realms where the fairies / old Gods had retreated - pockets of the former world existing within the Christianised one. They were closed off from one another as well as from the human realm. Except at Samhain.
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The People of the Mounds were hidden from mortal sight by a magical mist, the féth fíada, possibly the origin of the modern 'veil' concept. It does not work on Samhain, meaning that those who normally pass invisibly among us can no longer hide themselves.
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The belief that Samhain was a feast for the dead originates with the speculation of J G Frazer, author of the Golden Bough. Originally it seems to have been far more about faerie encounters and uncanny happenings, as well as being a time of taking stock.
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Frazer has so much to answer for. I read a fairly recent book that cited him uncritically about some “Indo-European” and Indigenous stuff and it makes me cringe so bad.
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