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free samhain book download for dear faithless readers—happy hallowe’en

Monday 30 October 2006 | 3 cookies in the jar

estella chesneau's lovely winter solstice print• the day boy
& the night girl
(the romance
of photogen
& nycteris) •

• by george
macdonald
(1822) •

• design &
layout by yours
unreliably •
blessed be •

(And if anyone knows how to get in touch with fellow Old Girtonian Estella Chesneau, we have her to thank for the elegant gold-and-silver block print, which she made and gave us for winter solstice 1996.)

“The Ulster Cycle is peppered with references to Samhain. Many of the adventures and campaigns undertaken by the characters begin at the Samhain Night feast. One such tale is the Echtrae Nerae, concerning a warrior of Connacht who undergoes a test of bravery put forth by King Ailill. The prize is the king’s own gold-hilted sword. The terms hold that a man must leave the warmth and safety of the hall and pass through the night to a gallows where two prisoners had been hung the day before, tie a twig around one man’s ankle, and return. Others, thwarted by the demons and spirits that harassed them as they attempted the task, quickly come back to Ailill’s hall in shame, but Nera goes on to complete the task…and has a vision of the destruction of Cruachan by warriors of the sídhe. He follows them into the Cave of Cruachan and spends a year in the Otherworld, but returns the same night he left (in another version, he remains trapped until the end of the world).”

3 cookies in the jar

  1. gentian said on Monday 30 Oct 2006 at 10.10 am:

    happy halloween.

    ..even though we are faithless…

  2. would be artist said on Friday 10 Nov 2006 at 4.22 pm:

    If you are still looking for Estella Chesneau she can be contacted via www.camberleycre8.org.uk.

  3. lawrence said on Friday 16 Feb 2007 at 3.39 pm:

    I know how to get hold of her…
    I’m her brother! Small world, this internet thing….


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