The word gives us some clues about the antiquity and origin of this celebration. According to some interpretations it would be the result of joining the Gaelic words for the end and summer, although there are also those who relate it to the word assembly. In what does not seem to be discussion is the fact that it is an ancient and pagan-born celebration that was brought to the United States by Irish emigrants laying the foundations for Halloween. In Galicia, in recent years, the Samaín has undergone a process of recovery and vindication to precisely counteract the growing influence of the American celebration.

Rafael López Loureiro, a teacher in Cedeira, was the forerunner of this enhancement of the Galician tradition more than 30 years ago, searching for its vestiges and roots throughout the community and promoting the recovery in his town with the associative movement. The original celebration has little to do with the American custom of dressing up, although there are those who have found evidence of the practice of the trick or treatment in old Druidic practices. And in many parts of rural Galicia the older population still remembers practices that would directly root with the primitive rites and in which an approach to the dramatized and open death can even be appreciated even to the humor in which jokes are present with the aim of frighten. Rites have also been identified in various places in Galicia such as emptying and sculpting pumpkins. There also are customs such as not picking up the table after dinner of the Night of the Dead to allow the soul of a relative to feed, and light fires that same night to guide their steps to the hereafter.

The Samaín has revived strongly in recent years thanks to the impulse of the educational community, the associative world and the local authorities. The celebration has spread throughout Galicia and the calls for activities both on October 31th (the day of the celebration) and in the immediately preceding and subsequent days are already counted by tens. In many cases the acts will go hand in hand with another of the traditional events that the calendar offers us at this time of year, the magostos, so that the chestnuts will be very present. And the costumes, despite the opposition of the purists who continue to see in this practice a concession to Halloween, will reign in all of them.

So if you feel like enjoying a terrifyingly fun evening you just have to look for the nearest Samaín and join the party.

Feira dos Santos

November 1st. Monterroso

Monterroso’s neighbors will celebrate this Friday one of the most important events of their annual calendar, the Feira dos Santos. The origins of this market and tasting day date back to the year 1450. Since 2011, it also enjoys the consideration of the Tourist Interest Festival.

More information here

FIOT

Until November 3rd. Carballo

The International Theater Autumn Festival ends this week. Before lowering the curtain until next year, the public can enjoy the staging of “Fariña” and attend the prize-giving of the Xograresa Outono to actress Patricia de Lorenzo.

More information here

Castañazo Rock

November 1st and 2nd. Chantada

Music festivals are also for fall. This is demonstrated in Chantada with his Castañazo Rock, an appointment that will fill the town with music for two days. SFDK, Koma, Dios Ke Te Crew, Skacha, Ezetaerre and Huntza will liven up the evening of Friday 1st and Soziedad Alkohólika, Narco, Nao, Auxili, Balkan Bomba and Mekánika Rolling Band will do the same on Saturday 2nd.

More information here

Festa da Castaña e do Cogumelo de Riós

November 2nd and 3rd. Riós

Routes, workshops, children’s games, tastings, a popular “magosto”, contests and music. All this is what the twenty-fifth edition of the Festa da Castaña e do Cogumelo de Riós will offer for two days.

More information here

Festa da Castaña do Courel

November 2nd. Seoane (Folgoso do Courel)

The Festa da Castaña do Courel will bring together many people in the place of Seoane this Saturday. There will be a traditional “magosto” with free tasting of chestnuts and wine, workshops, stalls selling local products and crafts, and musical performances. The party was declared of Tourist Interest in 2013.

More information here

Samaín

From October 31th and November 3rd. All over Galicia

Chestnuts, costumes, workshops for children, music … With these and other proposals municipalities throughout Galicia will celebrate these days the Samaín. Many of the festivities are already scheduled for Thursday 31th, although in other cases they will take place on Friday 1st, Saturday 2nd and Sunday 3rd.

It is a pagan festival of Celtic origin which, according to the scholars of the subject, means the origin of almost all the traditions associated with the dead, dating back to pre-Christian times. Originally, more than three thousand years ago, this night was considered the perfect moment to honour the souls of deceased ancestors who went out to visit their old villages.

Over time it has become festive celebration and today, there are many places where they enjoy this day recalling their most important traditions. Among them, Galicia, whose cities and towns fill with people to be part of the party.

Among the traditions of this day are the mythical pumpkins in which, once emptied, are made three holes for eyes and mouth to represent a skull (the Celts used skulls). As people say, then a candle had to be put inside to scare off the evil spirits. Another tradition very common among children is the famous “trick or treat” which, in fact, is a transformation of the tradition of the Celts at the time of leaving sweet foods in the doors of their houses so that the spirits were happy and did not enter their homes. For the same reason, to ward off these spirits, it was common for the Celtic people to wear masks and disguises, and that is why today it is still a tradition to disguise that day.

Although many people believe that the Samaín is a copy of American Halloween, the truth is that it is just the other way round, and it was the Irish (who also celebrated this festival) who exported it to the United States in the late nineteenth century. This is how they begin to make their own version of the celebration.

It is, thanks to the Americans, that here again this party is celebrated, that for years had been “disappeared”, since they give to it the popularity and the importance that until then in Galicia had stopped having, and they make it reborn again.

So you know, if you do not have plans for October 31st, maybe this is a good one.

Even if it is only to enjoy the tasting of roasted chestnuts with friends or to dance to the music that surrounds this festival, it is worth getting carried away by the Samaín, a party for all audiences that never leaves anyone indifferent.