Remembering the Dead (4mins 03secs) 
Here are the most gorgeous accounts of people remembering the dead. The stories come from four Traveller women, two older and two younger, who recalled to me how they remember and connect with those who have gone before them. The accounts from the younger women (Louise and Ann Marie) are completely contemporary while the accounts from the older women (Nan and Bridget) recall how they marked All Souls Night when they were growing up in caravans and tents.
At the start of the clip, Louise and Ann Marie talk about blessing themselves when they pass a roadside memorial where someone would have been killed in an accident. They also tell me how they beep the horn of their caravan when leaving a graveyard after visiting the graves of their loved ones. The beep of the horn is just to say goodbye.
Nan and Bridget's accounts are equally powerful as they talk about leaving candles lighting for the returning souls on All Souls Night when they were children and living in tents. This was done in many homes all over Ireland, including my own family. They describe how it would be pitch dark outside apart from all the individual candles lighting for loved ones that would have passed away.
Bridget talks about how the candles would be placed in a bucket of sand, again something I saw my own grandmother do.  She also mentions that she used a potato, and again this was done around the country I have found. In some cases, people used a turnip too and these were used at Christmas too. The turnips and potatoes had a practical reason behind them as they could be cut to make a stable flat base while the candle would be pushed into a cut out hole and held in place. When the candle would burn down, the potato or turnip would quench the flame.
I love how Bridget recalls how her father set the scene and the children all had to go to bed and not get up until morning. The general story was the souls would be walking around and you wouldn't want to bump into them or get in their way. This belief was the same with us in our family in Wexford and around the country. Likewise throwing out water was seen as bad luck on this night as you'd wet the souls.