Samhain

Happy Halloween!--How fascinating to spend this holiday in one of its countries of origin.  I have done a little reading about how the Irish celebrate Halloween and I thought I would share the information.  I haven’t done extensive research, so please don’t consider this a complete (or even necessarily accurate!) account.

Halloween in Ireland has its origins in a Celtic festival called Samhain.  “Samhain” can be pronounced in various ways; one common pronunciation is “sow-in.”  Samhain was celebrated on the night when the Celts believed dead spirits visit earth.  The Celts built bonfires to both help guide some of the spirits and drive away evil spirits.  Bonfires are a part of Halloween in Ireland today.  One tradition states that if a person burns a piece of his/her hair in the Halloween bonfire, s/he will dream of his/her future love.

The tradition of the Jack-o-Lantern has Irish roots.  The story revolves around a man named Jack who was unworthy of heaven.  After repeatedly tricking the devil, Jack was also banned from hell. The devil gave Jack a burning coal to light his way.  According to the legend, Jack carved out a turnip and placed the coal inside so it could illuminate his path.  Irish immigrants to the United States began using pumpkins because they were more readily available than turnips. 

Trick-or-treating has origins in the practice of poor Irish folks visiting the homes of the wealthy and asking for money or food to help them celebrate Halloween.  The holiday is quite Americanized today and children dress in costumes and go door-to-door to collect goodies. 

The Irish bake a Halloween cake, which is actually a fruit bread, called barnbrack.  Traditionally the cake would be baked with various items inside that would symbolize a person’s fate for the coming year.  For example, if a person was given a piece of cake with a coin inside, that person could expect good financial luck.  A piece of rag represented the opposite—money problems.  Today one can buy barnbrack, but it will only have a ring inside which forecasts finding one’s true love or continuing luck in love. 

Galway pulled out all the stops to celebrate Halloween.  The weekend was filled with festivities called “Galway Abooo!”  I did not attend the “Demented Carnival” or “The Cannonball Circus” on Friday night.  Nor did I attend the “Monstrously Big Fancy Dress Party” on Saturday evening at which prizes for costumes were awarded.  I did venture out today, though, for the reenactment of Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance and to enjoy the costumed in the Latin Quarter.

My hope was to take a lot of pictures of kids in costumes (they are so adorable), but I underestimated how weird it would feel to take pictures of random kids I didn't know.  Interestingly, when kids and their parents noticed me taking a picture, they often helped me get a good shot.  Still, I held back a lot.  Here are some, though:

Adorable!

The little boy looks SO much like my nephew when he was younger.

This young man seems to have an extra appendage

Adults were costumed, too

Darth Vader---scary eyes!

If you would like to read more about Halloween in Ireland, here are three websites I visited to glean the above: 

http://www.goireland.com/blog/article/halloween-in-ireland.html

http://www.ireland-information.com/articles/irishhalloweentraditions.htm

http://www.suite101.com/content/jackolanterns-history-and-meaning-a161243

I Already Am Where I Am Going

After a week of inclement weather, I anxiously awaited the pleasantness the weather forecast predicted.  After a leisurely morning that involved cheerios, coffee and a two-part “Murder She Wrote” story set in Ireland (some might expect me to be ashamed, but I am not), I set out in the early afternoon.  My plan was to walk around, breathe and enjoy the beautiful day. 

The day was even more gorgeous than predicted.  I retraced many of my steps from last weekend.  I found myself walking slowly and taking things in.  Many people passed me and I questioned both why they were walking so quickly and why I was walking so slowly.  This phrase came to me:  I already am where I am going. 

I want to live my whole life this way—as if the journey is the destination.  Perhaps this will help me live in the moment.  For example, I would hate to spend my entire sabbatical worried about finishing my book.  If I do that, I will miss the fun of the journey of creation. 

I didn’t take many pictures today, but here are a few:

I can't stop taking pictures of the Long Walk

I saw this for the first time today

Little Pumpkin in the Latin Quarter

The World Outside My Window

After a weekend that I describe as gorgeous, the weather has taken a decidedly nasty turn.  Wind.  Rain.  Wind and rain.  Rain and wind.  Windy rain.  Rainy wind.  You get the picture.

The truth is, I don’t mind.  I miss my walks along the bay, but I appreciate the coziness of home.  I’ve spent most of my week sitting in my chair by the window wearing a wool sweater, under a wool blanket with a hot cup of tea nearby and my laptop acting as a heating pad.  I have moved to the stage in my work when I am actually putting words on the screen, and I am gratified.  The work is slow (I’m easily distracted by my own research), but satisfying.

I have only left my building two times since Sunday.  On Monday I walked to the grocery store and discovered it was “October Holiday” an official public holiday.  I learned this because the grocery store opened late that day in honor of the holiday.  I bought a cup of coffee and waited for the store to open.  When I got home, my resolve to get right to work wavered--it WAS a holiday after all--and the activity in the harbor was fascinating.  In particular, I was interested in watching some professionals net sprat in the marina.  Apparently not everyone had the holiday off from work.  I literally pulled a chair to the window and watched the fascinating operation.

A large net was laid in the marina between the boats and left.  Pulling in the net is a multiple-boat activity.

The workers on the smaller boat guide the net

The workers on the larger boat pull the net in

They all work to pull the net tight up against the larger boat, keeping the sprat trapped inside

You can get an idea of the number of fish if you look carefully at the net under the water

The large boat drags the net full of sprat to solid ground where they are loaded, little by little, onto a big truck

I left the building yesterday afternoon with the intention of going for a walk.  I was struck (literally and symbolically) by the force of the wind and the feel of rain in the air, so I turned around and went back inside.  The rain started about an hour later.  After the rain ceased, an eerie light came in my window.  I looked outside and saw the following:

I posted the rainbow pictures on my Facebook page and this prompted comments about leprechauns and pots of gold.  I have decided to think of leprechauns and pots of gold metaphorically; this way I can believe in them.

Right now I’m looking out my window at a group of boys (I would guess they are about twelve) fishing and goofing off around the harbor and they are making me nervous.  The tide is coming in and the water is rough.  The wind is so fierce, I am worried they will be blown into the water. 

For two weeks the harbor has been lousy with otters.  Oscar and his friends have delighted me to no end.  Except, I suspect, there is an end.  I did not spot even one otter today.  I suppose this means the sprat have moved on.  Instead of dwelling in disappointment, I am going to wait in happy anticipation for what happens next outside my window…

Ahhh…  the wind has turned to rainy wind.  The boys, no dummies, have left the area, presumably for shelter.  

A Walk on an October Sunday

This weekend the weather has been glorious.  Both yesterday and today I took long walks along the Bay and up into Salthill.  Though I had my camera with me yesterday, I didn’t feel like stopping.  Not so today.

As you will see from my photos, I had much beauty upon which to reflect.  I did, however, have a sobering moment.  I was passing a church in Salthill and I saw people gathered around the entry in their finery.  I assumed they had just attended a wedding until I saw a child-sized casket carried out of the church.  My stomach lurched.  What sorrow amid such beauty.

And yet, life continues…  I intend to embrace the grace of every moment. 

On the Old Dock outside my apartment

Look closely--two otters swimming in the harbor

The River Corrib and the Long Walk

Reflection

Moored boats

Swan during low tide in River Corrib

Graffiti

Along the bay

Celia Griffin Children's Park on Galway Bay, dedicated to the children who lost their lives during the Great Famine

"Path to Health," sign along the promenade, part of a program designed to encourage people to walk

These ringbuoys are found along the bay and the river.  They have a phone number to a group, the Samaritans, that helps people who are experiencing distress or depression and may even be contemplating suicide.  The Samartans sticker says, "You're not alone."

On a Salthill street

Trees changing in residential area

More evidence of autumn

Balloon art in the Latin Quarter

Erin on an Aran Island in Eireann

Last Sunday Erin and I made the journey to the largest of the three Aran Islands, Inishmore.  Like the trip I took with Kevin, we rode a bus from Galway to Rossaveal and a ferry from Rossaveal to Inishmore.  Unlike the experience with Kevin, we had water in the apartment (so we started the day clean) and no rain while we waited for the bus.

When Kevin and I took a horse and carriage ride around the island, our driver told us he chauffeured tourists until the end of September.  Erin and I were resigned to ride in one of the mini-vans and I consoled myself by imagining how much warmer we would be.  As it turns out, the day was beautiful and the horses were ready to pull tourists around the island.  Erin and I climbed aboard a small carriage and began our trip around Inishmore. 

Our driver, Michael, grew up on Inishmore.  He shared with us some of the way life has changed on the island.  He lit up when he told us about his two children.  His son is about eleven years old and his daughter is about eight.  He said his daughter notices EVERYTHING.  He and his wife have to remind their son to look at people and they have to tell their daughter to stop staring at people.  

Michael, our driver

Prince, the horse who pulled us around the island

Inishmore is a magical place.  I enjoyed observing the small differences in the landscape made by the passing of time.  Dun Aengus was significantly less crowded than it was in August so our time there felt reflective to me. 

Some of the cows in Ireland seem "fluffy."  I'm not sure if it's the breed or the wind...

Inishmore field near Dun Aengus

Erin at Dun Aengus

Not as close to the edge as it looks

Flowering fuchsia plant

Teampall Mic Duach, 10th - 12th century, near Dun Aengus

On Inishmore

On Inishmore

After sweater shopping (I managed to restrain myself this time), Erin I took tea at a lovely restaurant called the Bayview that included marvelous berry bread pudding. 

That evening Erin treated me to a “thank you for hosting me” dinner at a nearby restaurant, Ard Bia.  Ard Bia has the most interesting address:  Ard Bia at Nimmos, Spanish Arch, Long Walk, Galway.  Of course, a provocative address like that wouldn’t count for much if the food wasn’t wonderful.  It. Was. Wonderful.  We both ordered the roast beetroot risotto topped with goat cheese.  I am still dreaming about it…

I ended the day with a profound sense of well-being.

Ard Bia

O City of the Watery Plain

Take in my heart your place again

between your lakes and sea,

O city of the watery plain  

that means so much to me!

            -From “Galway” by Oliver St. John Gogarty

Last weekend Galway celebrated it’s second annual architectural open house.  Open House Galway involved, among other things, building tours and walking tours.  

When I first read of the open house, I was most excited about the tour of the lighthouse on Mutton Island which was to be conducted by a member of the last family to live in the lighthouse.  This tour required pre-booking and I was unable to make a reservation because all the spots were taken.   But as Erin and I planned our Saturday, we found plenty of other open house activities to interest us.

We began with a noon walking tour of the waterways of Galway.  The day was glorious which might explain why there was a huge crowd for the event.  Our tour guide recently completed her dissertation on the topic and she was extremely knowledgeable and interesting.  When we were close enough to hear her, we were intrigued by what we heard.  Sadly, many times we were unable to stand close enough to hear.  Thankfully, we were given a booklet with much of the information in print. 

The Galway waterways significantly impacted the local economy.  I learned fascinating information about the purchase of the river and fishing rights and the old slaughterhouses and how their proximity to the Corrib River encouraged the eel population.  I heard stories of nets filled with hundreds of salmon. 

Waterways of Galway Tour Guide

Erin and (one of) the waterways

            And ere the tidal water falls,

            your ships put out to sea,

            like crimson roses in grey walls

            your memories to me.           

                        -From “Galway” by Oliver St. John Gogarty

Armed with our waterways guidebooks, Erin and I broke off early from the waterways tour to attend a tour of the Galway Harbor Company building.  I can see this building from my apartment.  I was interested in this tour because it promised wonderful views of the bay.  The internal beauty of the building pleasantly surprised me.  The building boasts a nautical theme and clever use of small space.  Our tour guide pointed out that the building has many windows that face the water and almost no windows that face the industrial part of the dock area.  Fascinating.  

The Galway Harbor Company hopes to develop the port in significant ways that will cause dramatic changes to the area.  If their plans are approved, the port would accommodate much larger ships including cruise ships filled with tourists.  We discussed these plans with our tour guide.   If you are interested in seeing what they have in mind, go to: http://www.galwayharbour.com/ and click on the youtube video under “New Port Development” in the center of the screen. 

I had a short conversation with a man wearing dress military garb.  I first asked him a question about an impressionist-style painting in the building that was done of the working dock (complete with backhoe).  This led to a discussion of the occasional scrap heaps.  This man told me that not long ago the Galway City Museum had an entire exhibit dedicated to the scrap heap.  I wasn’t sure if I should feel relieved that I’m not the only one with this strange fascination, disappointed that I missed the exhibit, or both.  

Both, I think.

View of my apartment building from the deck of the Galway Harbor Company building

Rachel on Galway Harbor Company deck

After a lovely lunch and walk through the outdoor market, Erin and I visited the Galway City Museum where our tour was led by one of the building’s architects.  I loved hearing about the many challenges faced by the architects and how those challenges were met.  The building is beautiful and the museum has free admission.  I can imagine wandering to the top floor on a cold winter day to look out the windows over the Corrib River and pray for inspiration. 

Galway City Museum architect at beginning of tour

Galway Hooker, traditional boat, hanging in the museum

This artwork won an open competition

Closer

Each hand-crafted bulb is unique and said to reflect the changing Galway sky

Rachel and statue of Padraic O'Conaire, famous Galwegian writer

            Your cut stone houses row on row,

            your streams too deep to sing,

            whose waters shine with green as though

            they had dissolved the spring.

                        -From “Galway” by Oliver St. John Gogarty