The Parshell: An Irish Samhain Protection Cross

Samhain Eve falls on 31st October as ever, which gives you a few weeks from the time we're publishing this post, to gather two sticks and a handful of straw. If you want the protection of a traditional Irish magical charm, that is.

The Parshell Cross

Kevin Danaher records in 'The Year in Ireland' that in many places crosses were made and set up on Samhain Eve to protect the house, but they were:

"less elaborate than those for St Brighid's Eve".

The one he quotes in full is the Parshell, or Farshell, described in the Journal of the Kildare Archaeological Society in 1908.

It takes 2 little sticks, in and around seven inches long, which were laid crossways, and a wheaten straw was woven out from where they met, under one arm and over the next, with a fresh straw added each time one ran out.

The weaving stopped about an inch from the ends, the last straw was made fast, and the cross was fixed over the house door on the inside to ward off ill luck, sickness and witchcraft for the year ahead.

How to Make A Parshell Cross

For your own, you'll need two straight sticks about seven inches long, which can be twigs off a hedge or a tree near you, a handful of straw and a length of thread. Red cotton embroidery thread or crochet cotton yarn is absolutely perfect for this.

Craft shops do sell wheat straw for Brigid's crosses and pet shops sell bags of straw, and long dry grass from the garden will work if that's what you have. Or, get the thread (no problems only solutions, it don't have to be perfect, just use whatever you have that's closest).

If you get your hands on some straw, soak it in warm water for a while first so it bends without snapping. Hold the two sticks crossed at their centres and wrap a straw around the join a few times to bind them.

Weave outwards from there, passing the straw under one arm of the cross and over the next as you go round, and tuck in a fresh straw whenever one runs short.

If fiddly work is hard on your hands, just weave as far out as you comfortably can and tie it off at that point. Something like this shape.

Alt text: A simple line drawing of a Parshell, two crossed sticks with straw laid in square rounds out from the centre where they meet.

Stop about an inch from the ends, tie the last straw off with the thread, and hang the cross over your front door on the inside.

Next Samhain Eve you make a new one, and traditionally the old one moves somewhere else in the house, or out to the shed if you've no cow stable handy.

Feel free to ceremonially burn it either, to release what it's caught for you over the year and start fresh next samhain.

Samhain Resources

We've also gathered everything we have on Samhain onto one page, handy for ye.

There's the free Samhain cheat sheet, my video on what date Samhain falls on, Jon's videos on the thin veil and on the ancestors at Samhain, an explainer video and an expert podcast interview (Lora O'Brien, Morgan Daimler, and Geraldine Byrne interviewed by Moon Books' Rachel Patterson), along with three full Irish Pagan School classes: Samhain in Ireland with me, Herb Magic at Samhain with Tara Tine the Ditch Witch, and Samhain Ritual & Practice with Orlagh Costello.

Pick whichever study suits the time you have this month, and it's all at the link below.

🔥 Open the Irish Samhain Collection

Mind yourselves, and we hope your Parshell is up over the door by the 1st of November.

Slán go fóill,
Lora & Jon 💚

PS

Also note that on Samhain night, anybody throwing water out of the house should call out Seachain!, meaning beware, so the ghosts and fairies can step aside and avoid being splashed.

There ya are now, all set up for an authentic Irish Samhain season.