IAS Monthly Meeting & Program: The Celtic Origins of Hallowe’en By Maya Magee Sutton

Name: IAS Monthly Meeting & Program: The Celtic Origins of Hallowe’en By Maya Magee Sutton
Start: 2024-10-11T19:00:00-06:00
Location: Ramada Plaza By Wyndham Albuquerque Midtown

Schedule

Fri Oct 11 2024 at 07:00 pm

UTC-06:00

Location

Ramada Plaza By Wyndham Albuquerque Midtown | Albuquerque, NM

At this session, Dr. Maya Sutton will explain that the Celts of 2,000 years ago had a great celebration called Samhain (SOW-in), the Irish word for summer’s end. Since the Celts started every important event on the evening before, the Hallowed Evening before Samhain became Hallowe’en. But how did all the strange customs begin that even today we associate with this event? Why do people dress up in costumes? Why do children go around asking for food, and what pranks are meant by “Trick or Treat”? You will learn how the Irish Celts celebrated the last harvest of each year with a bonfire. Samhain was dedicated to honoring the ancestors. Tradition says that at Samhain, the veil between this world and the Otherworld is the most thin, and our ancestors’ spirits are free to roam our visible world. Are you beginning to see the connections?
Dr. Maya Sutton taught Celtic History and Mythology at UNM for many years. She currently teaches classes about all aspects of Celtic history at the UNM Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and at Oasis. She and some friends have enjoyed enacting the major Celtic myths at various venues. For 30 years, she has been a member of a Druid Grove that celebrates the Celtic cross-quarter days, including Samhain. Her ancestry is almost 100% Irish and Scottish. Her grandfather McCarten was born in Co. Meath and immigrated to America as a teenager. By obtaining his birth certificate, Maya began the paper trail to prove she is his blood descendant. She now has dual citizenship with the Republic of Ireland and the U.S.
This event is free and open to the public, so invite your friends!
Coffee and tea will be provided; there is a cash bar adjacent.
We ask that you bring a sweet or salty snack to share.
Costumes also encouraged!