I was fortunate to have my art feature with the renowned Irish-Australian Prankqueans ensemble this year. Samhain is the ancient Celtic Irish harvest festival, that has morphed into Halloween as we know it today. It was a time when the veil between the worlds of the ‘living’ material world and the ‘other world’ or spirit world thinned. During this time, the spirits of the other world could cross over into our material existence. Sometimes they were benevolent and other times malevolent!
The Cailleach
I created the imagery of the Cailleach (pronounced ‘Koil-yak’), a formidable figure from Irish mythology, for the event’s promotional material. She is often depicted as a crone, a harbinger of Winter and change. She commands Winter’s cold sun, chill winds, and quiet. As a shapeshifter, she’s ambiguous, transforming into a bird, wolf, or deer. Although wizened and hunched, she is powerful enough to create mountainous landscapes bare-handed. You can read about The Cailleach in my newsletter.
Samhain Selfies
I also created some ‘Samhain Selfies’ for the event. They are fun, interactive artworks, inspired by the Irish tradition of mask-making at Halloween. In Ireland, as children, we made our own Halloween masks. The masks and costumes we associate with modern-day Halloween were originally disguises to trick other-worldly spirits into passing by. These days, we invite them into our homes and lives in the form of horror stories, movies and the Trick or Treat ritual.
Connecting with Community
Sail into Samhain was a wonderful, fun-filled celebration of Irish culture in Sydney, Australia. My contribution was very small, compared to the stellar music of the McMollys, the emotive lyrical poetry of Anne Casey and the high-jinks of Áine DePaor’s Puca (she also played the Cailleach!). It was an honour and a pleasure to be part of the event and to meet some new friends, chat about our cultural traditions from our home, while celebrating our lives in our adopted homes here in Sydney.
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