Edinburgh Samhuinn Festival.

Last week I experienced my first Scottish Halloween and I must say, it is much scarier here then in the States. At home, costumes of choice tend to be princesses or superheroes, but here if you don't have a large amount of blood on you then you are not wearing a proper costume. I did see kids out trick-or-treating around the city but apparently it is only a Saint Louis thing to have to tell a joke! 

I have never really liked dressing up so I went to the Samhuinn Festival instead which is a traditional Edinburgh event that celebrates the Celtic New Year/Harvest Festival. There was music, dancing, creepy wailing, a lot of fire, pagan rituals and people dressed up as demons, etc. Historically the festival is supposed to mark the end of summer and the coming of the 'dark days' of winter. With winter comes a correlation with death, and so it was also call the Night of the Dead. People who had died within the last year were said to be allowed to spend one last night with their loved ones on earth. Because of the closeness of the living and the dead on this night people wore masks to disguise and protect themselves from the evils of the underworld; hence why people dress up in costumes today! With all the wailing and screaming, acting out of ritualistic sacrifices and the bizarre costumes, it turned out to be a fairly scary Halloween!