‘There’s always light in the dark’... Magical Púca Festival procession to lift the veil between worlds

WHEN the opening procession of the much-anticipated Púca Festival winds its way through the heritage-filled streets of Trim this Saturday, it will be lifting the veil between worlds, welcome the darkness and looming winter and reconnect us to the earth, each other and our ancient past.

Forget about the trick or treatery of imported Halloween hokum, the original and authentic spirit of Samhain will show itself and envelop the town in a heady mix of theatre, performance, and traditional music immersed in a spectacular parade of light and shadow.

It's all the vision of Púca's Creative Director and Meath native, Claire Morrissey who has taken the themes of identity, landscape and language to imagine a storytelling Samhain parade that will unfold in front of thousands of visitors.

For someone wholeheartedly in love with embracing the onset of darkness and who prefers to work her magic from the shadows, you couldn't meet someone with a brighter disposition with just days to go before the big showpiece reveal.

Born in Kildalkey to Jerome Morrissey and Pat McCormack, Claire had an early grounding in the Arts. Dad Michael was one of the founding members of Senior College Ballyfermot as it was initially called, creating animation, arts, television and radio courses while mum, Pat is an artist and sculptor.

After schooling in Rathcairn and then Kings Hospital in Dublin, Claire opted for a third level course at UCD studying science and biochemistry and maths but it didn't suit. "I wanted to delve into the creative area, playing in the imagination and making and telling stories", she says.

That spark fully ignited in 1991 in a cinema while watching the Steven Spielberg blockbuster 'Hook' starring Robin Williams.

"I was watching the movie in Tallaght with Dad and watching the scenes where Peter runs around not realising he's Peter Pan yet and then there was the imaginary dinner and food fight. I was watching how scenery told a story there. And as we were driving home my dad happened to have a prospectus in the car for Wimbledon School of Arts in London with a course in Technical Arts Design and I ended up doing a course there for three years, getting taught by the likes of Terry Ackland-Snow (Production Designer and art director, known for Aliens, Superman III and The Living Daylights) it was really fantastic.

"And then when I came back to Ireland, I worked as a set designer in RTE for three years on Fair City, I did the original Fame and Fortune show with Marty Whelan. And from then I just continued to do set design predominantly for television and sometimes film including 'The Fast and Furious 7' which I was involved with out in the UAE, a lot of gigs."

With a world of exciting projects across the globe already under her belt, becoming Creative Director for a major international festival on her own doorstep can now rank among her proudest achievements.

"It's absolutely more exciting that it's local. We, as a group of people bringing the Púca Festival to this landscape are highly invested in the connection with the community. And I consider myself one of those connections and I'm one of many, from all the various groups in Meath such as the Trim and Athboy Men's Sheds, the ICA, Scurlogstown Olympiad, Athboy High Nellies, the drama groups. "We can often feel like there's two towns but there's a coming together here that's quite a lovely example of what Samhain was in its roots, a gathering of folk in order to head into winter together."

The groups mentioned have been busy creating props, costumes and sets for the weekend all which will be revealed in the spectacular opening 'Samhain, Night Between The Years' procession.

"The roots of Halloween for all of us are generationally old. So, we are excited to bring what our ancestors, our grandparents or great grandparents did to celebrate Samhain and what it meant in terms of connection heading into the winter when we know it can be a difficult time because we're slowing down and we're going inwards. We've finished our harvests and we've taken in the wood for the fires. With that work done we have more spare time to connect with each other and to talk with each other and think about what we want for ourselves for the next year."

The procession starts at the OPW building at 6.30pm on Saturday and over 40-60 minutes will meander through the streets of Trim before finishing just beyond the Garda station across from the walls of the Castle.

According to Claire, visitors can expect to be enthralled as the themes of wild nature, divilment, and merrymaking along with a traditional Irish music score brings the procession to life, featuring the talents of local Meath musicians playing live and loud.

"An Gobha Tom King and Aindrias de Staic will lead the procession and we've got three exemplary traditional Irish musicians who will be playing rousing songs to call the other world and we've got a group of again, local dancers who will be dancing primally to that call."

Along the route kids are invited to join in the fun by bringing a hag stone (a stone with a hole in it, usually worn down by a sea or river) to look through and see who has shapeshifted and is wearing a nature-inspired disguise to hide from Púca.

"If you use a hag stone at dusk, which is when our procession comes up the street, you'll be able to spot who's human and who's not. The shapeshifters want to come into our world and they want to look human and hide from us."

For those not lucky enough to have their own hag stones, Claire and friends have spent recent months gathering them from around our shorelines and will distribute them during the procession.

"We want folks to consider looking at the parade not through their phones but through the hag stone, where there's a sense of separation for a journey and into the imagination of the story.

"We are due to have a full moon on Saturday and hopefully we'll all get to see it as we welcome the other festival characters; Fearr Dearg and Boann rebel rising up the road and behind them we've got a gaggle of creatures, shapeshifters and pucas. And they’re from the other world and they want to try and look like us, but they don't in some ways do it. We've got our Banshee. She will be silent so everybody will be safe, there'll be no death," laughs Claire.

"And straight behind all of that will be the other world characters who are coming up the road to spend four days with us and they'll be in our landscapes of the Púca trail. You can come up here and try and find them. Keep your hag stones close because you're going to want to see who’s from another world and who's not."

"Then Goddess Tlachtga', the reason we are all here will come through the town with the message that we are all heading into the dark together, connected and strong and there's always light in the dark."

Following the procession, celebrations will continue at the Barbican Gate of Trim Castle, the Pyro Collective return for a stunning fire display (8pm) before the story of Samhain is projected onto the curtain wall of the castle at 8.30pm.

The Festival will also wind down to something equally spectacular with the ‘An Lasadh Suas’ closing ceremony in Athboy on 31st October, as Claire explains.

"As the sun sets and the ceremonial fire is lit at Tlachtga on Halloween night, festivalgoers will gather at the Fair Green in Athboy. ‘An Lasadh Suas’, meaning ‘To Light Up’, is a symbolic event and newly created sculpture. Surrounded by fire sculptures, each one representing the connecting landscapes of Tara, Loughcrew, Tailteann, and Uisneach will be lit one by one, until finally, ‘An Lasadh Suas’ is lit, as a symbol of ancestral connection."

The four day festival, developed by Fáilte Ireland, in partnership with Meath Co Council, celebrates Ireland as the birthplace of Halloween and boasts free events for all ages, as well as a multi-talented and varied festival programme of ticketed events across the two festival hubs of Trim and Athboy.

There is much to be done before Claire takes her place in the opening procession (Saturday 6.30pm) but she knows the Púca Festival with its multitude of events and activities taking place over four days is now firmly in the hands of the community, a connection, she believes will only grow stronger as each year passes.

"It's our story we're telling and it's our landscape we're having it in and it certainly this year is a step forward towards local and community ownership of that with the want and excitement of developing that further over the coming years."

Further information, festival programme and tickets - pucafestival.com