Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-01
ALL HALLOWEEN IN IRELAND
Night When the Fairies Mourn the
Passing Of Summer.
IRISH LEGENDS OF THE DAY
Night, Too, when, Events Families
Meet in One Cabin for an Even
ina of Dances, songs and
stories.

DUBLIN. oct. S.-(special )-Hallowe'en
in ireland is a night of m~errymaking, as
Il is with us. But II has a deeper sig
niflcance. for it has been built up around
national traditions as old as the Deluge
itself and strengthened with legends innu-
merable Of pagan gods and Druidical Gus
toms, Of folk tales of heroes who were
stolen away to fairyland on that night and
the beliefs regarding the fairies that have
sprung up since the Christian era and are
still sprlnging up in the unspoiled parts
Of ireland.
The fairies have three great festivals
throughout the year-May eve, or Bealtanie
night; Midsummer ever, or st. Johns eve,
and Halloween. or Samhain night. Hal
lowe'en, according to the old Druidical d.
vision OF the year, comes on the last day
Of summer Their name for it-Samhain
night-means Summers end" 1t Is the
gloomiest night OF the whole twelve months
to the fairy folk. The Fe-fiada, or spell
OF enchantment In removed from all the
gentle 0airy) hills and raths as the last
bit OF daylight fades, and all the fairies
come trooping forth to moOriands and
mountains TO join in a mad revel with the
ghosts and witches and banshees and that
Ai1oA NAAithA sbAAA - 'Af Nht NNaC
Pooka.
II you have ever been in ireland on Hal
lowe'en you will remember that all night
long the wind walls round the housetops
and makes a fearful moan. II 10 really
not the wind you hear. but the great la
mont or Caoin that the fairies make for
the dead summer.
As the fairies are allowed 10 leave their
hills. so mortals are allowed to enter them,
and many q venturesome lad has gone into
the depths OF the rsths and brought back
wonderful tales OF fairy palaces and gar
dens and the like.
Fairy obbIe Released.
ON Halloween the leprechaun, the fairy
cobbler, leaves the thornbush under which
he has worked all summer, making and
mending the fairies shoes, and hurries
into the earth to stay till May day brings
him out again. You can hear the tap, tap,
tap OF his hammer in the long dusk OF the
summer evenings: the worldly wise say Il
is the woodpecker. As the fairies dance
every night all summer and as they are
said to wear their shoes out at one dance,
the leprechaun is kept busy till the last
day OF october, when his long winter rest
begins.
When the country folk see the leavet
whirl and eddy along the road they say
God bless them for they know the ara
the fairies in one OF their many DISCUSSES
Up among the hills in the north of Ire.
land to this day peasants will spread the
table At night before going to bed tina.
the spirits and fairies may not go hungry
There is Paddy. for example. who hal
seen the fairies often. He lives by him
self In a wee matched cabin with only hi
geese about him. and every Halloween H.
brushes up his hearth until 1t is spotless
he clears out the dirt from each corner an,
crack and then he stacks the turf on tn,
fire till the room is bright from the light o
II. Out he pulls a small table from tn,
walk ON which he spreads a cloth and oil
the cloth he puts a jug OF milk and al
earthen dish of soda bread. This is for tn
wee people" as Paddy calls the fairies
and when everything is ready Paddy re
tires behind the curtains of his outshut be,
ana goes to sleep, so that his company ma.
IN no way disturb them.
Mortals Are Released.
Many Of the mortals whom the fairle
have stolen away during the summer ar
returned on Halloween to their ow
hearthsides, for reasons no mortal min
can flthom.
There vas the case OF old Peter q
Nilybegs. Peter is q herring fisher. tn
skipper of one Of the KillybeR crews whfc
spend their lives on the coast of Donega
the seine forever in their hands. Pete
was stolen away four years ago on a sun
mer day and no one could get wind &
word OF him for weeks. On HaIlowe'e
he was found outside his own cabin aslee
with his hat beside him brimful Of luck.
th' luck of the fairies. Peter never hs
SPOKEN of his absence or his adventures
he Us too wise-but from that day TO tn
Peters crew is the luckiest in all Of Don,
sal In fair weather or foul his bo,
never puts cut in the bay that IT does N,