Towards the end of the year we look into the darker aspects of living. The time of the year with darker nights was traditionally marked in the Celtic culture by the festival Samhain during which the ancestors would be called on their wisdom to help navigate through the hardships of later life.
Age & Opportunity established Samhain event as a part of its Arts & Culture programme in 2012. This contemporary form of the festival gives older people time to look where they came from and what they have learned in order to build resilience for what’s ahead.

This year’s Samhain, organised together with National Museum of Ireland and Poetry Ireland, will be held on 6^th November at the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology (Kildare St, Dublin 2). The evening will be filled with poetry, storytelling and music. As a lead up to this event, a series of music and poetry workshops led by Elaine Agnew and Pat Boran, are scheduled for September/October.
Also a special exhibition ‘Samhain Trail’, open to the public from 1^st to 6^th November at the National Museum of Ireland – Archaeology, will be created for Samhain celebration by Cultural Companions.