SOAP Art and Publishing

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Samháin and Day of the Dead Festival 

A Real-life and streamed biochar fire ritual on the eve of 31st of October 2023 

Samháin is a Celtic festival that marks the passing of the abundance of summer and signals the beginning of winter.  It was believed that on this day, the veil between the living and the dead was especially thin and so the spirits of the dead could visit and communicate with the living. The transition is celebrated in different ways around the world as the Day of the Dead, Halloween, All Souls Day, Mahalaya, and La Calabiuza. 

Traditionally, the family’s ancestors were honored and invited into the home while harmful spirits were warded off. To avoid malevolent spirits, people wore disguises to appear as dangerous spirits themselves. This is also reflected in the costumes and masks worn in such festivals as Halloween, Dia de Los Muertos, and Samháin.

Bonfires and food have played a large part in the festivities. Household fires were extinguished and started again from the flames of the bonfire. Food was cooked on the fires for both the living and the dead and the community came together to eat the last feast before winter. 

Our celebration of the transition from the light of summer to the darker days of winter will also involve building a Samháin fire. We will explore these important themes of summer and winter, abundance and scarcity, and life and death, through rituals, workshops, and performances. However, while our Samháin fire aims to reignite the largely forgotten Celtic tradition of recognizing life and death’s intimate connection to the turning of the seasons, it will differ in one significant way. 

Traditionally ritual bonfires were burnt to ash, a process or chemical reaction that causes the carbon of the wood to fuse with the oxygen and release it into the atmosphere in the form of CO2. Our Samháin fire will instead be conducted in a low oxygen environment which retains (or sequesters) the carbon of the firewood in a stable form. The result will instead of ash and CO2 be pure carbon in the form of charcoal. This (the charcoal) will after be mixed with some kind of fertiliser at which point it becomes Biochar which then can be returned to the earth where it can be kept stable (sequestered) for thousands of years while serving the soil microbial lives. (See terra Preta) 

Biochar is becoming a popular soil conditioner. Its porous quality (one carbon piece of a gram can contain up to 1000 sqm surface). Mixed with decomposed food waste it can make a home for beneficial microbes and mycelium which enriches the soil, nourishes plants and supports many years of harvest. With the Samháin festival we will celebrate that death is the mystery through which life continually renews itself - and out of the fire will come sustenance for future life. 

The ritual will take place in locations in Scotland Sweden and Italy simultaneously and will be streamed. 

This collaboration was made possibly primarily by all the amazing people in the different organisations who have dedicated their time and energy to make is happen but also with the support of Creative Scotland, who have funded the work that enabled us to make all these contacts but also, Importantly by Dunoon Burgh Hall, and Cultural Documents.