The Gaelic festival that marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter called Samhain (pronounced sa-win) begins at sunset tonight. The ancient festival at the end of the season of light and the beginning of the dark season was seen as a time when the door to the underworld would open and the souls of the dead could travel back to make contact with the living. In fact at the typical feast on that day places are set at the table for the previously departed.
Bonfires that would cleanse the air of evil spirits were lit and the livestock that were brought down from the grazing lands would be marched past the fires. Games of divinity were played to gain knowledge of who would live and who would marry, who would fall in love and who would concieve in the coming year.
The Historical Inebriant: The Apparition Cocktail
Ingredients:
Stir over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Check out the link by the fire graphic to learn more about Samhain and below is a link to a podcast on the holiday (the discussion of Samhain comes at 10:00 minutes into the podcast).
http://celticmythpodshow.com/files/podcasts/CMP_SP26_Samhain_2011.mp3
Bonfires that would cleanse the air of evil spirits were lit and the livestock that were brought down from the grazing lands would be marched past the fires. Games of divinity were played to gain knowledge of who would live and who would marry, who would fall in love and who would concieve in the coming year.
Sometimes masks and other costumes were worn to hide a person's true identity from the spirits that were free to roam on this day. I assume that one hoped to see not only the evil spirits but also the legendary fairies that might also appear.
Ingredients:
3 oz Purity Vodka
.75 oz Cucumber Water (infuse 2 cups diced cucumber in 4 cups of water overnight. Strain and keep chilled.)
.25 Black Pepper Water (infuse 20 black pepper kernels in 1 cup of water overnight Strain and keep chilled.)
Stir over ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass.
Also check out the Witches Brew and Vampire Kiss drink recipes in the link!
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Check out the link by the fire graphic to learn more about Samhain and below is a link to a podcast on the holiday (the discussion of Samhain comes at 10:00 minutes into the podcast).
http://celticmythpodshow.com/files/podcasts/CMP_SP26_Samhain_2011.mp3
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