Samhain, un portal entre dos mundos. Cruza al origen de Halloween

A show for children at Nomad Museo Inmersivo in Madrid that explains the Celtic origins of Halloween through Samhain, the ancient Irish festival that marked the end of summer.

Samhain, un portal entre dos mundos introduces children to the Celtic origins of Halloween through Samhain, an Irish festival more than 2,000 years old. The show explores the threshold separating the living from those who are no longer with us, the moment when the Dark Season begins in the Celtic lands.

On the celebration itself, the content looks at how the Celtic New Year was welcomed: granaries full after the harvest, dances around great bonfires, and rudimentary costumes and masks that people wore to disguise themselves among the dead. It draws on the archaeological evidence from the Hill of Ward.

Many of today's customs have Irish roots: lighting a candle to guide the departed, trick-or-treating, which in the Middle Ages was practised by the poorest children, who asked for money in exchange for prayers for souls, and carving pumpkins, once made from turnips, a tradition that reached America with Irish emigration. Nomad Museo Inmersivo, a space for exhibitions and cultural activities in Madrid, hosts the show, which was produced in collaboration with Tourism Ireland.