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 is observed from sunset on October 31st to sunset on November 1st. It is the celebration that is the origin of Halloween. Samhain was first observed by Celtic Pagans. Samhain marked the Celtic New Year, the end of summer, and the end of the harvest season.
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 god is celebrated on Samhain?
Deities associated with Samhain, in Irish mythology, are the Morrigan and Crom-Cruach. While Morrigan is known to be the threefold goddess of the dead, theories abound about Crom-Cruach. In some legends he is said to be the personification of darkness; archeological evidence points to him being a fertility god.
What is Samhain pagan beliefs?
Samhain has been celebrated in Britain for centuries and has its origin in Pagan Celtic traditions. It was the time of year when the veils between this world and the Otherworld were believed to be at their thinnest: when the spirits of the dead could most readily mingle with the living once again.
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 · Samhain is the third and final harvest festival, falling after Lughnasad in August and the autumn equinox in September.
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).
Oct 31, 2024 · Halloween began as a the Festival of Samhain about 2,000 years ago. It was created as a way for the Celts to scare away ghosts and spirits. They ...
Samhain is the festival of the dead, a festival of remembrance and honouring of our dear departed friends and relations.
Samhain, meaning "summer's end," is a celebration of the end of the harvest and the start of the coldest half of the year.