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SAMHAIN
21
the king idol, and lay prostrate before the image, he and three-fourths of his men mysteriously disappeared.
"Then came
Tigernmas, the prince of Tara yonder On Hallowe'en with many hosts.
A cause of grief to them was the deed.
Dead were the men
Of Bamba's host, without happy strength
Around Tigernmas, the destructive man of the north,
From the worship of Crom Cruaich. 'T was no luck for them.
For I have learnt.
Except one-fourth of the keen Gaels,
Not a man alive—lasting the snare!
Diniisenchus of Mag Slecht (Meyer trans.).
This was direct invocation, but the fire rites which were continued so long afterwards were really only worshipping the sun by proxy, in his nearest likeness, fire.
Samhain was then a day sacred to the death of the sun, on which had been paid a sacrifice of death to evil powers. Though
