The Gaelic holiday Samhain celebrates the completion of the harvest and the

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28-Oct-2025 05 pm

The Gaelic holiday Samhain celebrates the completion of the harvest and the onset of winter i.e. the - darker half - of the year. Since the Celtic day began and finished at sundown, it is celebrated on November 1st, but festivities get underway on October 31st. This falls roughly in the middle of the autumnal equinox and the winter solstice. In addition to Imbolc, Beltaine, and Lughnasa it is also one of the four Gaelic seasonal celebrations. In the past, it was frequently observed in Scotland, the Isle of Man, Galicia and Ireland (where it is pronounced as Sauin). The Brittonic Celtic people known as Calan Gaeaf in Wales, Kalan Gwav in Cornwall and Kalan Goañv in Brittany also celebrated a similar holiday. While the classic Manx Gaelic name is Sauin, the name Samhain is used in modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic. Samhain serves as the root for the name of November in Gaelic. In Mythology of Ireland Samhain is listed as the first of the four seasonal celebrations of the year in the tenth-century story Tochmarc Emire. According to the literature, there would be a declaration of peace and crowded gatherings where people would hold discussions, feast, partake in alcohol consumption and compete. The scenes of early Irish stories frequently take place at these gatherings. According to the legend Echtra Cormaic, the High King of Ireland staged the Feast of Tara every seventh Samhain, at which new laws and obligations were enacted. Anyone who disobeyed these regulations would be exiled. While Bealtaine was a summer holiday for the living, Samhain was basically a celebration for the dead, according to Irish mythology, Samhain was a time when the doorways to the Otherworld unlocked, enabling supernatural entities and the spirits of the dead to enter our realm. During the Samhain feast, the fire-breather Aillen arrivesd from the Otherworld and after luring everyone to sleep with his music, burned down the palace of Tara. One Samhain, the young Fionn mac Cumhaill managed to stay awake and used a magical spear to kill Aillen, earning him the position of Fianna-leader. Some myths also claim that at Samhain, sacrifices or offerings were made. According to legend the feast of the Ulaid at Samhain, this included Samhain itself and the three days before and after it, lasted a whole week. It involved large gatherings where people held discussions, feasted, drank alcohol and participated in competitions. At Samhain, bonfires were also built on hilltops and ceremonies involved them, just like at Bealtaine. On the eve of Samhain, people in certain places put out their household fires. The neighbourhood came together as each family respectfully re-lit its fireplace using embers from the community bonfire.

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