DEL NORTE — Wildwood Sounds, 850 Grande Ave., Del Norte, presents Four Shillings Short, featuring Celtic Halloween, on Friday, Nov. 3rd, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $15. Call 657-4757 or see wildwoodsounds.com

Four Shillings Short, the husband/wife duo of Aodh Og O’Tuama from Cork, Ireland and Christy Martin from California, perform traditional and original music from the Celtic lands, Medieval & Renaissance Europe, India and the Americas on a fantastic array of instruments (over 30) including hammered & mountain dulcimer, mandolin, mandola, bouzouki, tinwhistles, recorders, Medieval and Renaissance woodwinds, North Indian sitar, charango, bowed psaltery, banjo, bodhran, guitar, percussion, vocals and even a krumhorn.

This special concert includes, poetry, songs, stories and folklore in celebration of the Ancient Celtic New Year know as Samhain. Many modern day harvest celebrations and customs are based on this festival including ghost stories, Halloween costumes, bobbing for apples, and the jack-o-lantern. 

The Celtic Feast of Samhain also known as Féile na Marbh (the Feast of the Dead) marks the end of harvest, the beginning of winter and the Celtic New Year and is traditionally celebrated at the end of October and beginning of November.  Samhain is Irish-Gaelic for ‘the Summer’s end’, and is pronounced ‘sow-in’. Samhain is considered a celebration of life over death, and a time to remember those who have left the world of the living. Candles would be lit at the graves of loved ones and bonfires were lit throughout the countryside. It is believed that the borders between the world of the living and the dead are thinner on this night — also known as “Ancestor Night.” Halloween is based on the “Feast of Samhain.”

Touring in the US & Ireland since 1997, Four Shillings Short are independent folk-artists who perform 150 concerts a year, have released 12 recordings and live as full time troubadours traveling from town to town performing at music festivals, theaters and performing arts centers, folk societies, libraries, house concerts and schools.

This is a sweets and snacks potluck. Bring a favorite healthy snack to share, and as always coffee and tea are on the house.