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Award-winning flute player and singer Nuala Kennedy from Dundalk and her friend, concertina player Brenda Castle from Co Meath came up with the idea of the Samhain tour to introduce visitors to the origins of the ancient festival here in Ireland.
Both have spent a lot of time in the United States and realised that most American’s don’t realise that the hugely popular Halloween festival originated with the Irish emigrants who brought the customs of Samhain with them when they crossed the Atlantic.
“The idea for doing a tour really all started with the late, great flute player Mick Maloney. He used to do workshops and tours featuring Irish music and heritage and Brenda used to be a guest musician on the tours,” explains Nuala, who now lives in Ennis, Co Clare.
“I met up with Mick a couple of weeks before he passed and he was telling me about the tours and suggested that I should do one. That’s what planted the seed.”
“A few years later, myself and Brenda got together and last year hatched a plan to do a tour.”
Brenda says that Nuala’s touring schedule is so busy that the only time she was going to be free this year was late October/ early November, so they decided to make a virtue out of necessity and build a tour around Halloween.
“I immediately thought of Samhain, which comes from Ireland. We exported it to America and now it has come back so it was a really nice idea to base the tour on.”
“ We are doing something a bit different from the usual coach tours. It’s a culture tour with mixture of music and folklore,” says Nuala, adding that they believe it’s the only Halloween theme coach tour of Ireland.
They are delighted that there has been a good uptake for the tour, with twenty-four participants travelling from various parts of the United States.
“Several of them are people who signed up last when I was ton tour with Kevin Burke and others just saw it on the website,” says Nuala.
“There’s a good mix of people from a lot of different areas. They are interested in music and history, which they’ll get a lot of on the tour,” says Brenda.
The Samhain Coach Tour of Ireland with Nuala Kennedy and Brenda Castles, which began on Saturday, takes visitors through a number of Irish counties including Clare, Louth, Meath, Offaly and Limerick, and also into Northern Ireland.
“We’re going to some of the less-visited places. I’m very excited to show them Co Louth where I’m from, as well as Co Clare where I live,” Nuala explains. “ We’re both so proud of where we come from and want to share that with people. We’re really passionate about bringing visitors to our part of Ireland to show them all the brilliant scenery and music.”
The week long tour includes visits to the Burren and Quin Abbey in Co Clare, Loughcrew, Trim Castle and the Hill of Tara in Co Meath, and Carlingford and the Long Women’s Grave in Co Louth.
On the cultural side of things, seanchaí Eddie Lenihan set the theme as he entertained them with ghosts stories last weekend and they will also visit the Puca Festival in Co Meath. Nuala is also delighted that Louth fiddle player Gerry O’Connor was free to play some tunes for the group.
The itinerary also includes a trip to Armagh city to meet up with the famous Armagh Mummers, a ghost tour of Newry, and a visit MN the Neary Nogs Chocolate factory at the foot of the Mournes in Rostrevor
The group are staying in Killeavy Castle as they visit this part of the country and they will also visit Leap Castle in Co Offaly, reputed to be Ireland’s most haunted castle.
“The whistle player Sean Ryan lives there with his family and we will also meet up with musician and spiritual singer Nóirín Ní Riain. She will take us to Lough Gur, Co Limerick where there are 2,000 2,000 archaeological monuments and one of the oldest stone circles in Europe,” says Nuala. “She will give us a final blessing before the group takes their flight back to the United States.”
Brenda has been researching Irish songs and music associated with Samhain and they will be sharing them with their tour group.
“We are taking our intrepid tour group to some roads less travelled…. they are loving it, and so are we!”, says Nuala, adding that next year’s tour will take place from October 28 to November 3 2025.
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