Samhain

Samhain
Type:	Village
Location:	Hain Valley, Yorkshire
First appearance:	Death of the Author
Appearances:	PROSE: Right vs Left vs Wrong PROSE: Wildthyme and the Wolf PROSE: Dolores Smith and the Birthday Bear PROSE: The Girl Who Went up in Smoke PROSE: Onesies PROSE: The Opera of Samhain PROSE: Michael Drake PROSE: The Midnight Empire PROSE: Self Possessed

Samhain was a village located in Hain Valley in Yorkshire. (PROSE: Michael Drake)

The village was home to the Shopkeeper's Fancy Dress Costume Hire Shop, which contained mirrors that led to many different times and places. Iris Wildthyme visited the town several times and was heavily involved in its history.

The Samhain Morningstar was the village's local newspaper. (PROSE: Wildthyme and the Wolf)

Geography

The most major street in Samhain was Festive Road.

Hebden Bridge was located at the border between Samhain and the outside world. The village, which seemed to have a mind of its own, sometimes made the trail to the bridge unreasonably difficult to travel through, to prevent people from leaving.

Samhain's churchyard contained memorials to many notable individuals, such as Olivia Price, Will Owen, Peter Wilde, and Michael Drake. These were not actually tombstones, despite popular belief, as going "over the bridge" was not a euphemism but a literal description of all these people eventually leaving the village through Hebden Bridge and returning to the outside world. (PROSE: Death of the Author)

History

17th century

In 1643, Samhain was "a small collection of folks fleeing the civil war". Iris Wildthyme left her companion, the Shopkeeper, in Samhain with a few mirrors which were portals to different times and places. The Shopkeeper established the Fancy Dress Costume Hire Shop, which he filled with costumes that he stole from his future self in 1906. (PROSE: Wildthyme and the Wolf)

Later in 1643, a three day party was held in celebration of Michael Drake. Iris and Panda crashed this party. When they used one of the Shopkeeper's mirrors to return to 1862, they were followed by Roger Daltrey. (PROSE: Right vs Left vs Wrong)

18th century

1700 was a significant year in the history of Samhain. A picture depicting the important event of 1700 was kept in the Samhain elder church. (PROSE: The Opera of Samhain)

On 29 March 1782, masons plastered the eggshells of Michael Drake's egg into the walls of the elder church in order to keep conflict away from Samhain. (PROSE: Self Possessed)

On 31 December 1799, the Samhainians were busy celebrating the coming of the new millennium in Ned Pepper's field. Iris and Panda used this window of time to break into the elder church and steal Michael Drake's eggshells. They successfully used a chisel to obtain the eggshells, but ran into a bit of trouble with the seventh Mrs Drake. (PROSE: Michael Drake)

19th century

1854 was a significant year in the history of Samhain. A picture depicting the important event of 1854 was kept in the Samhain elder church. (PROSE: The Opera of Samhain)

In 1862, Iris and Panda stayed at Samhain's inn. A cavalier from 1643 named Roger Daltrey followed them to 1862 and became involved in local politics. At the time, Samhain was run by roundheads who used the democratic process to make decisions. Daltrey arranged for a town vote on reinstating monarchical rule in Samhain. When it became clear that nobody wanted Samhain to have a king, Daltrey switched the voting ink with invisible ink. The election seemingly resulted in the Monarchists winning by one vote, but the villagers caught on to what Daltrey had done and they formed an angry mob.

After hiding in the costume shop for three weeks, Daltrey apoligised to the people of Samhain. He grew to become a valuable member of Samhain society. (PROSE: Right vs Left vs Wrong)

20th century

On 15 June 1906, the Jane Fonda Iris and Panda aided Constable Wallace in an investigation into a theft from the costume shop. They discovered that the thief was a past version of the Shopkeeper who was stealing from his future self in order to stock the costume shop in 1643. (PROSE: Wildthyme and the Wolf)

1932 was a significant year in the history of Samhain. A picture depicting the important event of 1932 was kept in the Samhain elder church. (PROSE: The Opera of Samhain)

On 3 October 1977, the Jane Fonda Iris and Panda visited the Shopkeeper and went through a mirror which led to 1906. (PROSE: Wildthyme and the Wolf)

On 11 July 1989, Iris Wildthyme briefly appeared in a park near Dolores Smith's house searching for Panda after they had been split up when the Celestial Omnibus was destroyed. For the next decade, Iris reappeared in the park every 11 July. (PROSE: Dolores Smith and the Birthday Bear)

1999 was a significant year in the history of Samhain. A picture depicting the important event of 1999 was kept in the Samhain church. (PROSE: The Opera of Samhain)

On 11 July 1999, Panda appeared in the park near Dolores Smith's house; after meeting Dolores, he was found by Iris. (PROSE: Dolores Smith and the Birthday Bear)

21st century

In autumn 2004, elephants put on a performance of the Threepenny Opera in Samhain. Iris and Panda almost attended the opera, but they instead visited the Samhain elder church and encountered George. George warned Iris that Samhain was on the precipice of destruction. (PROSE: The Opera of Samhain)

Circa 2005, (PROSE: Self Possessed) Brenda Soobie and Panda came to Samhain through a mirror connecting to the Flamingo Hotel. During their visit they helped Master Maker and the RifKind. A Tomdroid that followed Brenda and Panda to Samhain was collected by the Shopkeeper. (PROSE: Death of the Author)

While the Shopkeeper was reprogramming the Tomdroid, Iris and Panda visited the costume shop and discovered a realm of living fabrics and fictional characters in its back room. They travelled into the realm and discovered that it had been created by the psychic energies of Alan the Widower. When Alan completely died, the realm and all its inhabitants disappeared. (PROSE: Onesies)

Known residents

The Shopkeeper lived in Samhain from the 17th century (PROSE: Michael Drake) until 2005. (PROSE: Self Possessed)

When Brenda Soobie visited Samhain, she encountered a Byzantine, an arachnid, a man in a bowler hat with a pet carnivorous plant, a nun on a penny-farthing, Derek, Master Maker, the toys of Rifkin's, Rifkin, and Ned. (PROSE: Death of the Author)

In the 1990s, Dolores Smith lived in Samhain with her mother and father. Dolores' two older cousins and her aunt Rebecca also lived in Samhain at the time. (PROSE: Dolores Smith and the Birthday Bear)

Behind the scenes

Paul Dale Smith, the editor of The Perennial Miss Wildthyme, based Samhain on the real life village of Heptonstall. [1]