Countdown to Halloween: The Celtic New Year

Halloween is a Celtic festival celebrated on the night of 31st October and 1st November every year. In the six Celtic Nations of Brittany, Cornwall, Ireland, Isle of Man, Scotland and Wales, Halloween marks the end of the summer and the beginning of winter. The festival is associated with the Celtic feast of Kala-Goañv (Breton), Calan Gwaf (Cornish), Samhain (Irish), Sauin (Manx Gaelic), Samhuinn (Scottish Gaelic) and Calan Gaeaf (Welsh). Entirely pagan in origin, Halloween was traditionally a time of year when the worlds of the living and the dead were seen to be at their closest. It is a time when the creatures of the 'Otherworld' make their presence known to the people of 'this world'.

Halloween is now a globally celebrated festival, particularly in the 'New World' where its traditions were brought by waves of Celtic emigration. The lanterns, fires, costumes and belief in the supernatural remain deeply rooted in Celtic culture and tradition. Although called Halloween in most places, on Isle of Man it is more usually known as 'Hop-tu-Naa'.

In the build-up to this year’s festival of Halloween, Transceltic brings a selection of stories, spooky tales and memories from around the world. New features will appear every week from now until Halloween Eve.

In the meantime, here are the Halloween features from last year:

• The Otherworld of Halloween – The Festival of Samhain by Emmett McIntyre
• Ankou: A short Halloween story from Brittany by Dominique Corolleur
• An Irish American Halloween in South Jersey by Niall McCarsten
• Ghost Tram (Manx Gaelic: Tram Scanjoon) - A Manx Hop-tu-Naa (Halloween) Story by Alastair Kneale
• Nos Galan Gaeaf - Welsh Halloween by Gruffydd Davies
• Halloween poem by Robert Burns