Samhain or Sauin is a Gaelic festival on 1 November marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year.
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What is the meaning behind Samhain?
Samhain marked the Celtic New Year, the end of summer, and the end of the harvest season. It also signaled the beginning of winter, which they associated with death. On this day, the Celts believed the veil between the living and the dead was especially thin. This allowed spirits of the dead to visit the living.
Are Samhain and Halloween the same?
Most American Halloween traditions were inherited from Irish and Scottish immigrants. Folklorists have used the name 'Samhain' to refer to Gaelic 'Halloween' customs until the 19th century. Since the later 20th century Celtic neopagans and Wiccans have observed Samhain, or something based on it, as a religious holiday.
What is the myth of Samhain?
At Samhain, held on November 1, the world of the gods was believed to be made visible to humankind, and the gods played many tricks on their mortal worshippers; it was a time fraught with danger, charged with fear, and full of supernatural episodes.
Is Samhain good or bad?
Halloween (or Samhain) is far from an evil celebration. Its roots are deeply connected to honouring ancestors, embracing the natural cycles of the season, and warding off negativity.
Samhain, in ancient Celtic religion, one of the most important and sinister calendar festivals of the year. At Samhain, held on November 1, the world of the ...
Aug 11, 2022 · Samhain (also: Samain) was a pastoral/harvest festival celebrated—under various names—across the Celtic world on the evening of October 31st and ...
Samhain
Festival
Date: Fri, Oct 31, 2025 – Sat, Nov 1, 2025
Oct 28, 2024 · Halloween originated as Samhain, a Celtic New Year festival. In the modern pagan celebration, Samhain is the final harvest festival.
Apr 6, 2018 · In the Druid tradition, Samhain celebrates the dead with a festival on October 31 and usually features a bonfire and communion with the dead.
In Celtic Ireland Samhain was the division of the year between the lighter half (summer) and the darker half (winter)
Most importantly, Samhain was viewed as a borderline, or liminal, festival as the separation between “summer and winter, lightness and darkness” (Rogers 2002).
On or around the 31st October in the northern hemisphere, 1st May in the southern, Samhain (Samhuinn) is the festival of the dead, a festival of remembrance ...
31st of October - 1st of November, is Samhain (pronounced sowin) - a fire festival to welcome the winter and darker half of the year. Samhain is seen by ...
Samhain, meaning "summer's end," is a celebration of the end of the harvest and the start of the coldest half of the year.