Of all the festivals we hear, for a Hansel Monday till New Year, there's few in Scotland

held my dear for mirth I wean. Or yet can boast or better cheer than Halloween.

Hello and welcome to Stories of Scotland, a podcast where we delve into the darkest crevices

of Scottish history to find you some truly gruesome tales. I'm Jenny, a witch of average power.

And I'm Annie, you're archivist.

And since it's October.

Of average power.

Oh, great power, I'm sorry.

And since it's October, I thought we could have a look at spooky witchcraft in Scotland.

October is a special month for us, because Halloween is important in Celtic mythology,

with some folklorists suggesting that the Gallic festival of Sawin celebrated on Halloween

is actually the Celtic New Year.

Ah, well, this is because the Celts use trees to delineate their calendar, which they split into two, the light half of the year and the dark.

A tree with no leaves is often used to represent the Celtic New Year as we pass into the time of darkness.

Our Halloween, which has its roots in the Celtic Sawhin, is the point of the season when the leaves have died and the palette of autumn rules,

with rich browns, deep yellows and fiery reds. However, the shortening days not only cause the

leaves to fall, but also trigger the development of resting buds. These buds are the final growth

of the tree before it sleeps for the winter. Its final burst of energy before the cold sets in.

These buds are the start of the new cycle for the tree and wait all winter so that when the days get

longer the tree is ready to regrow and come to life again. The resting buds are tiny but full of

potential and promise. That's why Salowan is the Celtic New Year, because

it's a time when the days are short and the nights are long and cold. But the trees, they

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