Why I'm optimistic about COP26

I’ve spent much  of the  day in a brooding, pensive mood, wondering if there’s any significance to be read into the fact that the 26th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow begins in a few days on Halloween and Samhain. That means it will be occurring, almost entirely, during the darker half of the Gaelic / Celtic year, winter. I can interpret that in an optimistic way to look for outcomes that will support major, necessary reductions in the consumption of fossil fuels and therefore relatively darker, more sustainable, times ahead. Or, we could look at it as foreboding a dark and dismal outcome presaging continued extinctions including, possibly, that of “Homo sapiens,” making the scientific naming of our species a misnomer if ever there was one. Clearly I’m more fun to be around when the weather is mild and sunny and the future of the human race isn’t at such obvious risk.

jack-o-lanterns carved with faces to spook spirits away

Photo by J. Harrington

Fortunately, some of my ancestors were Irish and, according to Irish Traditions,

Samhain was the time of year many great legends took place. It was this season Irish storytellers would tell about the Second Battle of Mag Tuired between the Tuatha de Danaan and the evil Fomorians. They’d retell the adventures of Nuada, or tell of Finn Mac Cumhail and how he defeated Ailleen. According to legend, it is because of Finn Mac Cumhail that Ailleen no longer burns down the hill of Tara each Samhain.

These bits of folklore and mythology provide me with a reason to be optimistic if I simply interpret cessation of burning down the hill of Tara to represent a successful agreement to stop destroying our only home planet by burning it down. (If I recall my bible, after Noah there was a promise to never again destroy the world by flood. That makes warming to the point of burning an obvious alternative.)

Now, if you’re not of “Irish extraction,” you may well think I’ve lost what passes for my mind and I won’t argue with you. But, I will ask if you’re familiar with Samhain representing the beginning of a new year. What better time to begin new, or return to old, practices that can bring good fortune in the times ahead.

Samhain prayer for children:

Samhain is here, cold is the earth,

as we celebrate the cycle of death and rebirth.

Tonight we speak to those through the veil,

the lines between worlds are thin and frail.

Ghosts and spirits in the night,

magical beings rising in flight,

owls hooting up in a moonlit tree,

I don't fear you and you don't fear me.

As the sun goes down, far to the west,

my ancestors watch over me as I rest.

They keep me safe and without fear,

on the night of Samhain, the Witches' New Year.

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