The Celtic Feast of Samhain was replaced by All Hallow's Eve--Halloween--once St. Patrick and his confreres converted the Celtic world. From a pagan harvest feast where the dead walked the world, to a time when we reflect on the nature of death and life, Halloween has evolved. Yet, it would be a mistake to miss its haunting, spiritual nature which evokes a lot of thinking on the last things. This year, let's celebrate all three feasts--All Hallow's, All Saints, and All Soul's--with the great Celtic poet Kathleen Raine.
FOR ALL HALLOW'S EVE, FROM KATHLEEN RAINE'S NORTHUMBRIAN SEQUENCE:
Let in the wind
Let in the rain
Let in the moors tonight.
The storm beats on my window-pane,
Night stands at my bed-foot,
Let in the fear,
Let in the Pain,
Let in the trees that toss and groan,
Let in the north tonight.
Let int he nameless formless power
That beats upon my door,
Let in the ice, let in the snow,
The banshee howling on the moor,
The bracken-bush on the bleak hillside,
Let in the dead tonight.
The whistling ghost behind the dyke,
The dead that rot in mire,
Let in the thronging ancestors
The unfulfilled desire,
Let in the wraith of the dead earl,
Let in the unborn tonight.
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