News release

Highland Village Celebrates a Gaelic Halloween

Tourism, Culture and Heritage (Dec. 2003 - Jan. 2011)

For three nights this month you can walk with spirits and listen to haunting tales at the Highland Village Museum in Iona.

The museum is presenting a Gaelic Halloween over three evenings, Thursday, Oct. 22, Friday, Oct. 23, and Saturday, Oct. 24 from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. The village will observe the customs and stories of Halloween with a series of special activities titled Oidhche Mhór nam Bòcan or The Great Night of Ghosts.

Known in English as All Souls Eve, or Halloween, Gaelic speaking people observed the beginning of winter and the time of darkness, with Oidhche Shamhna, a night when spirits walk with mortals. Gaels in Cape Breton have kept this tradition alive with customs brought to the island from the Scottish Highlands and Islands centuries ago.

For three nights, the museum will become the haunt of visitors and strange happenings as a torchlight tour takes guests to the black house, log cabin, 1820s centre chimney house, the Malagawatch Church, 1865 centre hallway house, country store and 1900s farmhouse. Each building will feature a re-enactment from Cape Breton's Gaelic tradition that promises to thrill and chill.

The walk will end with storytelling and a céilidh with traditional fuarag, which is oatmeal, cream and sugar. Eating fuarag on Halloween night is an ancient practice.

At the conclusion of Oidhche Mhór nam Bòcan guests will be given an opportunity to tell their own stories, along with special storytellers.

Admission for adults is ten dollars and five dollars for students. A twenty dollar rate for three or more family members is also available.

Only a limited number of people can be accommodated. Please pre-register by calling Highland Village at 902-725-2272 in advance.