We hope you enjoy our Halloween Parade video.

The ancient Celtic festival of Samhain celebrated the passing from summer to winter. People disguised themselves using animal skins to protect against evil spirits on the prowl and lit fires to guide the good spirits during Samhain. Households would also carve scary faces into turnips and leave them at the doorstep to warn off evil spirits. We love dressing up at Togher N.S. and there were some wonderful costumes on display for our Halloween celebrations.

The children in the Junior Room arrived to the school in their wonderful costumes ready for the Halloween Party. A huge thank you to Viktoriya – Téja’s Mum for the wonderfully gruesome Halloween cupcakes.

The Festival of Samhain marked the end of the Celtic year and the beginning of the new one and as such can be seen to the equivalent of New Year’s Eve. This morning the children were busy preparing and chopping vegetables as we got ready for the Samhain feast. The sound of chopping was soon replaced by the wonderful smell of brown bread and pumpkin soup.

Our pumpkin soup was so popular that we have to share the recipe. The children really enjoyed the pumpkin soup with our homemade brown bread.

Preparation Time: 15-30 minutes.

Ingredients
750g pumpkin, diced
250 g potatoes, diced
3 medium onions, diced
3 chicken stock cubes, crumbled
840ml water
250 ml thickened cream
Salt
Pepper

Method
1. Place all ingredients, except cream in a large saucepan.
2. Simmer until vegetables are tender.
3. Remove from the heat.
4. Blend with a stick blender until smooth.
5. Add cream and stir through (do not boil after adding cream).
6. Season to taste.