Festival Calendar & Tickets
2026 festival program
Find out what’s happening at Samhain Festival and buy tickets for events.
2026 Festival Events & Tickets
For tickets, follow the “view event” link and use the “Tickets” button to purchase.
Samhain Opening Night
John Spillane and the Band of Wrens with special guest Eoghan Ó Ceannabháin
De’ Barra’s Folk Club
TICKETS: €25
Samhain and the Transhumance / Talamh Beo Regional Gathering
The year hinged on the winter drove - Photography Exhibition & Talk with Max Jones
Samhain marks the crucial time of year where cattle were driven down from the upland booleys through two huge fires to the safety of the lowland pasture. Pastoralism is becoming more relevant, and certainly an avenue for the future. The talk will be accompanied by the opening of an exhibition of a limited selection of photography prints by Max Jones that have only ever existed in the real world, includes light refreshments and a music session so bring your instruments if you like!
FREE // DONATIONS WELCOME
Oíche Airneáin An Teach Beag
A night of story telling, music and song with special guests
FREE // DONATIONS WELCOME
Farming Is Medicine / Talamh Beo Regional Gathering
How are health and poverty, colonialism and climate change, farming and medicine all related to each other? Farming is Medicine is a compelling documentary from the Deep Medicine Circle (DMC) which reveals how these seemingly separate issues are in fact deeply intertwined. After the film, Dr Rupa Marya of the DMC and Dr Oliver Moore will relate this work to Ireland, bringing together agroecology, medicine, decolonial practice, and practical food sovereignty in order to build a food system based in care.
FREE // DONATIONS WELCOME
Farmers Shed: Tea, Scones and some sharing (Farmers only) / Talamh Beo Regional Gathering
An opportunity for farmers to listen and be listened to, in a supportive, farmer-only environment.
FREE / DONATIONS WELCOME
Traditional Crafts Exhibition and demos
Wool spinning, carding, lace-making, butter churning, rope making, flax harvesting and a community smoke house.
An Teach Beag & O’ Donovan’s Alley Garden
FREE // DONATIONS WELCOME
TALK: No Farmers, No Food… No Black Pudding?
Award-winning Clonakilty-based food writer and author of Blood, Guts & Black Pudding – Ireland’s Dying Art of Blood as Food, Kate Ryan, invites you to a unique event exploring the intricate connection between the oldest of our foods, our farmers, and a food system at odds with preserving Ireland’s traditional foodways.
FREE // DONATIONS WELCOME
TALK: What Is Talamh Beo?
Talamh Beo which translates to ‘Living Land’ is a member-led nationalmovement for agroecology & food sovereignty. In this session Thomas O Connor (farmer/Talamh Beo member) and Allison Roberts, (Talamh Beo member), will introduce the organisation's mission, give an overview of the currency Local Food Policy Framework and associated policy proposal for a Basic Income for Local Food Farmers and answer any questions!
FREE // DONATIONS WELCOME
Seán Ronayne - Untold Sounds
Fresh off the back of a sellout 2025 Irish tour, Seán Ronayne returns with a brand new talk – where he’ll delve into never-before-told-stories of Irish wildlife sound, as experienced by Seán on his never-ending ear-driven journeys through the wildest corners of our lands.
TICKETS: €25
TALK: Banc Síolta: Seeds for a Living Land / Talamh Beo Regional Gathering
Christian Wulff (Wolf Seeds) & Thomas O Connor (Manna Organic Farm) will explore why saving seed is one of the most practical acts of food sovereignty and food security we have. Seed is the beginning of every harvest but its future is being shaped in Brussels as much as in our fields.
They will discuss who keeps heritage varieties alive like the Gortahork cabbage and how to develop new varieties adapted to the Irish climate.
Bring your questions, and your seed stories.
FREE // DONATIONS WELCOME
Banc Síolta: Seed Swap / Talamh Beo Regional Gathering
Join us for an hour of swapping and talking about seeds! Bring surplus or home-saved seeds labelled with your variety, location source, and harvest year. No seeds? Come to chat anyway! There will also be seeds for sale from local seed savers who will be happy to help you get started with saving your own.
FREE // DONATIONS WELCOME
Film Screening: FLAX Threads of Time
2026 marks the 200 year anniversary of the sudden collapse of the flax industry in West Cork, particularly affecting the Clonakilty area.
Guided by the voices of those who once worked the land and looms, visitors are transported through time, walking through blue flax fields of centuries past, feeling the pulse of 19th-century mills, and witnessing the rise and fall of Ireland’s linen industry.
This deeply immersive journey blends poetic narrative and cutting-edge technology, bridging generations and inspiring a renewed connection to biodiversity and our rich heritage.
FREE // DONATIONS WELCOME
From Soil To Self / Talamh Beo Regional Assembly
A conversation about the impact of food systems on human health and what we can do about it. Join Melissa Byrne (Registered Dietitian, Kids Food Revolution) and Dr. Rupa Marya (Deep Medicine Circle, Trinity School of Medicine) in a conversation around our bodies, our planet and our plates!
FREE // DONATIONS WELCOME
Talk & Tasting - Forbidden Foods
Ireland’s Rarest Cheese, Cured Boar, Pilchards and more. Join Max Jones for this internationally acclaimed talk / tasting by the light of local rushes soaked in tallow.
TICKETS €40 (at the door)
Our Soil - A Living Earth / Talamh Beo Regional Gathering
Bacteria, fungi, protozoa, nematodes and other organisms. Join Elise McCarthy (Wolf Seeds) to discover and understand some of these organisms and how to support them.
FREE // DONATIONS WELCOME
WORKSHOP - Our Forgotten Food Culture: Real Butter Making and the Magical Meaning of Butter Stamps
With Max Jones / https://www.uptherethelast.com with special guest.
Join us to process raw milk into real butter and experience the wonderful flavours we lost to industry.
A light lunch is provided and you will take home some of your very own butter!
TICKETS: €40 (at the door)
SIÚILÓID MHÓR NA SAMHNA / The Clonakilty Samhain Parade
No Food, No Farmers
“I want to tell you about the most hopeful thing in the world. It is a seed.”
Janisse Ray, The Seed Underground
This is an invitation to all to take a walk through nature, observe the changes that are afoot and allow it to inspire you. With natural materials gathered from the local landscape (sustainably and thoughtfully!), make yourself a costume, decorate a mask and join us as we walk through Clonakilty to celebrate the ancient festival of Samhain and the arrival of winter in Ireland at sunset on November 8 at 5PM.
The pulsing heart of this year’s Samhain Festival is The Living Land, a three-day Regional Gathering of Talamh Beo, inviting you to look beyond the supermarket shelves, pull up a chair, and meet the farmers who feed us.
Together, we will explore a path toward national food resilience, driving the urgent call for better support and official recognition of local growers.
By championing a decentralised, community-embedded food system, we can help protect Ireland from global supply shocks and climate volatility.
Please register your self/group below.
SAMHAIN Scutchers Ball with the FlaxLin Heritage Project
A flax harvest celebration with a host of traditional musicians and a community ceilí.
TICKETS: €10 (at the door)
The Clonakilty Samhain Parade & Fireshow
FREE EVENT
The Clonakilty Samhain Parade and Fireshow.
The theme for this year's Púca Parade is “The Music Of What Happens”, inspired by the title of a book by Fr John J O’Riordain, which speaks of Celtic spirituality as a lived experience in modern Ireland.
This is an invitation to all to take a walk through nature, observe the changes that are afoot and allow it to inspire you. With natural materials that you gather (sustainably and thoughtfully!) make yourself a costume, decorate a mask and join us as we walk through the town to celebrate the ancient festival of Samhain and the arrival of winter in Ireland.
Please register your self/group below.
Junior Brother
EVENT: Junior Brother
LOCATION: De Barra’s Folk Club
Date: Sun 9 Nov – Matinee Performance -
Time: 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
MacCarthaigh Concert Series
An evening of Story and Song with:
Thomas McCarthy
Paddy Keenan
Dermot Byrne
Liam Ó Maonlaí
at the Clonakilty Methodist Church, 8th November 6pm.
Lisa O'Neill Matinee
EVENT: Lisa O’ Neill
LOCATION: De Barra’s Folk Club
Date: Sat 8 Nov – Matinee Performance -
Time: 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Cost: €36.50
Lisa O'Neill
EVENT: Lisa O’ Neill
LOCATION: De Barra’s Folk Club
Date: Fri 7 Nov
Time: 8:00 pm - 11:30 pm
Cost: €36.50
Ticket Link: Debarra’s
John Spillane & The Band of Wrens
John Spillane and the Band of Wrens with special guest Lisa O’ Neill
LOCATION: De Barra’s Folk Club
TIME: Date: Thu 6 Nov
Time: 9:00 pm - 11:30 pm
Cost: €22.50
Mask & Costume Workshop
Mask and costume workshops every Sunday until Samhain in Clonakilty Community Hall, Scartagh, Clonakilty, Co. Cork, P85 E099
FREE and accessible to all.
No booking necessary.
Sundays 1pm - 5pm, Oct. 5, 12, 19, 26 and Nov. 2
Samhain Sessions in An Teach Beag and DeBarra’s Folk Club
FREE EVENTS
Samhain Sessions in An Teach Beag and DeBarra’s Folk Club.
The Clonakilty Samhain Parade & Fireshow.
FREE EVENT
SLÍ NA FÍRINNE - The Clonakilty Samhain Parade and Fireshow.
Samhain Origins & Customs
FREE EVENT
A talk with Dr. Eoghain Hamilton on the origins and customs associated with Samhain in DeBarra’s Folk Club.
Drop in críos-making workshop
FREE EVENT
Drop in críos-making workshop with Aideen Macken in the Clonakilty Museum on Western Road where the political, social and folklife aspects of the area are exhibited.
A musical analysis of the music of Sliabh Lúachra
FREE EVENT
Jim Murray presents a musical analysis of the music of Sliabh Lúachra through performance and conversation in De Barra’s Folk Club.
Samhain Sessions in An Teach Beag and DeBarra’s Folk Club
FREE EVENTS
Samhain Sessions in An Teach Beag and DeBarra’s Folk Club.
RÓIS at DeBarra’s Folk Club
€14.50
RÓIS at DeBarra’s Folk Club. Composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist and electronic artist from Fermanagh, whose songs breathe new life into a forgotten Ireland. Support Act: Medazza Choir performing a piece by Clodagh Simonds.
An evening of sean-nós singing, stories and traditional music
TICKETS AT THE DOOR
€15 / €10 FOR PENSIONERS
An evening of sean-nós singing, stories and traditional music in the Methodist Church on Kent Street. Featuring Thomas McCarthy, John Reid, Jon Hicks and Rosie McCarthy.
Meet and Greet traditional Irish music instruments
FREE EVENT
Meet and Greet traditional Irish music instruments and the people who play them, with Clonakilty Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann in An Teach Beag.
Clonakilty Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann
FREE EVENT
A concert with Clonakilty Comhaltas Ceoltoirí Éireann in O’ Donovan’s Alley Garden.
Gamelan Spréacha Geala
A set of Irish tunes with the Gamelan Spréacha Geala in the Methodist Church on Kent Street.
Drop in críos-making workshop
FREE EVENT
Drop in críos-making workshop with Aideen Macken in the Clonakilty Museum on Western Road where the political, social and folklife aspects of the area are exhibited.
Samhain Sessions
Samhain Sessions. A night of traditional music in:
De Barra’s Folk Club, A Teach Beag and Shanley’s.
FREE EVENT.
Samhain Parade
“Listen to the Land Speak” - Come and celebrate Samhain!
The theme for this year's Púca Parade is taken from Manchán Magan's brilliant book "Listen to the Land Speak" and it is an invitation to all to take a walk through nature, observe the changes that are afoot and allow it to inspire you. With natural materials that you gather (sustainably and thoughtfully!) make yourself a costume and join us as we walk through the town to celebrate the ancient festival of Samhain.
Please register your self/group using the link below.
Kindly supported by the Arts Council
Shake Hands with the Hawk
Shake Hands with the Hawk. An interactive talk with philosopher Kevin J. Power.
FREE EVENT.
Mythical Ireland
Mythical Ireland. A live podcast with folklorists and mythologists Anthony Murphy and Manchán Magan.
FREE EVENT. REGISTRATION REQUIRED.
Thin Places: Exploring the Holy Wells of County Cork
Thin Places: Exploring the Holy Wells of County Cork A talk by author and researcher Amanda Clark
FREE EVENT.
Caitlin Ruth Food Truck and Samhain Session
Caitlin Ruth Food Truck and Samhain Session in An Teach Beag.
Sam Amidon - Gig
The mighty Sam Amidon plays at DeBarra's Folk Club for Samhain.
PAID EVENT. TICKETS REQUIRED.
Sacrifice, Magic & Protection
The feast of St. Martin in Ireland. A talk by folklorist Billy Mag Fhloinn.
FREE EVENT - Registration Required
Ancestral Storytelling
Experimental Storytelling with poet Paddy Doyle and fiends.
FREE EVENT.
Birth Notes - An Exhibition by Artist Ciúin Tracey
Birth Notes - An Exhibition by Artist Ciúin Tracey.
FREE EVENT.