Rowena

After parting with my brother, I head over to the women’s banquet and start placing some apples on the tables. After emptying my basket, I search for my friends. I quickly notice Tiona because of her blonde hair. She has already found us a place at the banquet, and has two other girls with her. I notice Gwyneth is one of them, because there is only one person with black hair as long as hers. The redhead sitting with them is clearly my cousin, Rianna.

“Hey, how are you all doing?” I say as I approach them and find a seat.

“Well, I for one am quite excited.” Tiona replies. “I can’t believe I was such a coward last year. But this year I am totally ready for it.”

“Not me.” Gwyneth replies to Tiona’s question. “I’m going to stick to the path, like all the women should.”

“That is exactly what I thought back then.” Tiona answers Gwyneth. “So, I don’t believe those are your real feelings. I think that’s just you putting up a mask to hide them.”

Gwyneth looks at Tiona dismissively and says, “Think whatever you want.”

As we are having our discussion, I notice 4 other girls nearby. They are girls from the travelling clan that stays with us for a few months. The Irish travelers are a group of nomadic people who travel from one village to the next. They buy local products and wherever they go and sell them in the next village. This particular clan comes back here every 5 years and sells metal ores to the local smith.

I notice the 4 traveler girls staring at us. Then one of them takes the lead and asks us, “Excuse me, are you perchance talking about the bonfire?”

I smile at her and say, “Yes, we are. Are you thinking of participating too?”

“Well, the thing is, we don’t really know what it’s all about.” The lead traveler girl starts. “We did have some of the boys asking us if we’ll participate, and we’ve heard rumors from some of the women. But so far nobody has really explained it to us.”

Tiona, sitting on the other side of the table speaks up and waves her hand. “Rianna and I participated last year. We can tell you everything about it.”

“Yeah, good idea.” I agree.

I slide to the edge of the bench to make room for the traveler girls and suggest Gwyneth to do the same. When the girls have all got their seats, Tiona suggests them to grab some food and eat and drink while she explains the bonfire event.

“So, first thing you should know is that the bonfire is only mandatory for village girls of 18 years and older. You traveler girls don’t have to participate if you don’t want to. You have the option to join, but if you don’t feel like it, you can just say no.”

“Right, ok. My name is Igraine, by the way.” The lead traveler girl says.

“It is a pleasure to get to explain the event to you, Igraine.” Tiona replies. “So uhm … yeah, the second thing you should know the reason why we do the bonfire event on Samhain itself and not on any other days.”

“Actually, I think we already know that.” One of the other traveler girls says just before she took a bite out of some pie. “Samhain is the day where gateways open between our world and the spirit world.”

“Which allows for our ancestors to come visit us and see how we are doing.” Tiona continues. “Since they prefer to see us in good health, we have this banquet to show them how plentiful food is for us. If any of our ancestors is floating over us right now, they will be able to see that we are healthy and well fed and can be proud of their descendants.”

“And after the banquet, we have the bonfire, where we dance for our ancestors.” Rianna follows up Tiona’s explanation. “It can be quite exhausting though, so you better eat a lot now, lest you become hungry while you are in the middle of the forest. Oh, and don’t forget to go to the outhouse before you head into the forest.”

“Hang on, is the bonfire in the forest?” Igraine asks.

“Rianna is right, but she is moving ahead too far.” I let Igraine and her friends know. “Just be aware that if you want to participate with the bonfire, you would do well to have a hearty meal now, so eat up.”

As Tiona gets back to explaining, Gwyneth gets up and collects a jar with mead from further up the table. Then she comes back and offers some to everyone.

“Anyways, after the banquet, the single women are going to gather at that large building over there.” Tiona continues and points at the large building to the north. “It is the building closest to the forest, and there is a reason for that. That is where we all get a necklace made of black stones. Each of these stones has a letter carved onto it so the necklaces can spell our names. When everybody has their necklace, we all take off our clothes and we head into the forest, completely naked.”

One of the traveler girls chokes on her mead when she heard the naked into the forest part while another blurts out in surprise “Naked?”

“Don’t worry. The men are not allowed in or even near the building.” Rianna says. “The only people who will get to see you are all fellow women who are in the same situation as you.”

That calms the traveler girls down and Tiona goes back to explaining.

“So, when everybody is nude, we exit the building through the backdoor. Where the forest is. There we follow a path that will lead us to a glade in the forest which holds an ancient shrine. The path itself is made of flat white stones, so it will be easy to follow. Firewood has already been brought there yesterday, as well as some instruments to play music with, so that has all been taken care of. This way, once we get there, we can immediately light the bonfire and sing and dance in a celebration to our ancestors. And while the dancing around the bonfire is a lot of fun, most people are looking forward to what happens after.”

Tiona then gets a big grin on her face which makes the traveler girls a bit worried.

“What happens then?” Igraine asks.

“One thing you should know is that while we are dancing around the bonfire, the single men start undressing as well.” Rianna says. “They too receive necklaces like us, except made of white stones and then they are let loose into the forest. They are free to search for the glade we are having our bonfire at, but unlike us, the men are not permitted to use the path. If they do step on the path, or jump over it, the ancestor spirits will be very much upset and will give them bad luck for a year. Should the men find the glade, they are free to stare at us from the edges, but they cannot enter the glade. So, we are never sure if they do or don’t stare at us. That part that Tiona is so giddy about is when we are sent back home.”

“We are sent back along the path one by one.” Tiona says with a really big grin. “So, from the perspective of all the other women, we stay on the path all the way through, and the men are not permitted near us and also can’t grab us. But since it’s dark, nobody will notice if you intentionally stray from the path, head into the forest where the men can chase you, and where they can catch you.”

All four of the traveler girls are listening very intently to Tiona, and I must admit, so am I.

“And what happens after he catches you?” Igraine asks worried.

“Then you have to have sex with him.” Gwyneth answers.

“Correction.” Tiona quickly replies to her friend. “Then you get to have fun with him.”

“Not if it’s an ugly guy. Or some old guy. Then you become his sex toy.” Gwyneth counters Tiona.

The traveler girls’ eyes bounce between Tiona and Gwyneth and I notice that they are getting very much confused.

“The underlying matter is that once the bonfire ends, we start a fertility event.” I explain. “Should a man catch you, which is as simple as him grabbing you by the hand or the arm, you are considered caught and have to give him sex. If you were to end up pregnant on the night of Samhain, the night our ancestors are with us, they will notice it and one of our ancestor spirits can enter your womb and possess your egg. As a result of this the ancestor sprit, who has already lived a life once before, can rejoin us in the world of the living, and do so with previous life experience.”

“Oh, I see.” Igraine says. “It is like a way to help our ancestors get reincarnated.”

“Exactly. And the children who get conceived on Samhain are later referred to as a ‘Samhain child’.”

“No way!” One of the other traveler girls says. “My mother is a Samhain child.”

“Yes, that is possible.” Rianna replies. “The traveler clan you are part of is one that comes here once every five years. Our shepherd used to be part of your tribe, but he settled here after he caused one of our women to have his Samhain child.”

“So what? When a man catches you, you have to make a Samhain child with him?” one of the other traveler girls asks.

“Not at all.” Tiona tells her. “If you just want to have some fun, you can simply jack him off and make him spill his seed all over the forest floor. Or if he really does want to fuck you, you can make him pull out.”

“And what if he does put his Samhain child in you?” The same traveler girl asks.

“When a guy catches you, you need to first exchange necklaces, only after that can he do it with you.” Rianna explains. “If after it you get caught by a different guy, you can show him the white stone necklace and let him know you have already been caught by someone else and he can no longer do it with you. If a month later you discover that you are pregnant, then you can use that necklace to identify the man who gave you his Samhain child. Should that happen to one of us villager girls, we can demand the man to marry us. That way our Samhain child can have both a mother and a father to raise him. If the man who impregnated us is someone from your traveler clan, he too has to get married to us, but he is also free to try and convince us to join your clan. If he can’t and we want to stay, he has to leave your clan and stay in the village.”

“And what when …?” Igraine asks.

“I know.” The girl with the Samhain mother interrupts her. “We can try and convince him to marry us and join your clan. But if he doesn’t want to, he doesn’t have to. My grandmother failed to do that and had to raise her daughter as a single mother at first. But the entire clan helped out and she married my grandfather later. Apparently, it was very much worth it, because my mother is like one of the smartest people in the whole clan. They are even expecting her to take over as clan leader.”

“That is why Samhain children are so important.” I explain. “They are people who have already lived once before and now come into the world with prior life experience. They may have forgotten their past life, but they can quickly relearn the skills they had in their previous life. It is like they come into this world with a higher chance to become successful.”

“So, when your grandmother got impregnated during our Samhain festival, she had the opportunity to not only reincarnate her own grandmother or great grandmother back into this world, but could also strengthen your clan with a person who was certain to be of great benefit to your clan.” Rianna finishes explaining the event.

Now that the traveler girls had the event explained to them, they start discussing amongst themselves. I can easily hear them use the words sex and pregnant. If they really were put off by the idea, I feel they would not have much to discuss. so maybe some of them are considering joining.

After their discussion Igraine looks at us and asks, “Are any of you planning on straying from the path?”