Samhain is a Gaelic festival held on 1 November. It marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Folklorists have used the name Samhain to refer to Gaelic ‘Halloween’ customs up until the 19th century. Since the later 20th century, Celtic neopagans and Wiccans have observed it as a religious holiday.
About Samhain in brief
Samhain is a Gaelic festival held on 1 November. It marks the end of the harvest season and the beginning of winter. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Imbolc, Beltaine and Lughnasa. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. A similar festival was held by the Brittonic Celts, called Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall, and Kalan Goañv in Brittany. Folklorists have used the name Samhain to refer to Gaelic ‘Halloween’ customs up until the 19th century. Since the later 20th century, Celtic neopagans and Wiccans have observed it as a religious holiday. In Modern Irish as well as Scottish Gaelic the name is Samhian. In Manx Gaelic, the traditional name is Sauin. The Gaelic names for the month of November are derived from Samhains. These names all come from the Old Irish Samain or Samuin, the name for the festival held in medieval Ireland. The name means’summer’s end’ or ‘the end of summer’ One suggestion is that it is unrelated to Proto-Celtic *samani, but may be a folk etymology from Proto-Indo-European *semo-. In 1907, Whitley Stokes suggested that it may be unrelated to the word for ‘winter’ because the Celtic calendar dates from 1st century BC, dating from the 1st Century BC, the month name is likely related to Samain.
A festival of this kind may have been held during the 3rd month of the calendar year, but it is unclear if this is the starting point of the Samain calendar or the Samoni calendar. The festival is believed to have Celtic pagan origins, and some Neolithic passage tombs in Ireland are aligned with the sunrise at the time of Sam hain. It was when cattle were brought down from the summer pastures and when livestock were slaughtered. As at Beltaine, special bonfires were lit. These were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers, and there were rituals involving them. The souls of dead kin were also thought to revisit their homes seeking hospitality, and a place was set at the table for them during a Samhaine meal. Mumming and guising were part of the festival from at least the early modern era, whereby people went door-to-door in costume reciting verses in exchange for food. In the 9th century the Church had shifted the date of All Saints’ Day to 1 November, while 2 November later became All Souls’ Day. Over time, it is believed that Samhane and All Saints’All Souls’ influenced each other, and eventually merged into the modern Halloween. It’s believed that the boundary between this world and the Otherworld thinned, meaning the Aos Sí could more easily come into our world. But this is disputed.
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This page is based on the article Samhain published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 07, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
