Samhain
Samhain or Sauin is a Gaelic festival on 1 November marking the end of the harvest season in autumn and beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. It is also the Irish and Scottish Gaelic name for November. Celebrations begin on the evening of 31 October, since the Celtic day began and ended at sunset. This is about halfway between the autumnal equinox and winter solstice. It is one of the four Gaelic seasonal festivals along with Imbolc, Bealtaine, and Lughnasa. Historically it originated in Ireland and it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Its Brittonic Celtic equivalent is called Calan Gaeaf in Wales.
Samhain is believed to have Celtic pagan origins, and some Neolithic passage tombs in Great Britain and Ireland are aligned with the sunrise at the time of Samhain. Samhain is mentioned in the earliest Irish literature, from the 9th century, and is associated with many important events in Irish mythology. The early literature says Samhain was marked by great gatherings and feasts and was when the ancient burial mounds were open, which were seen as portals to the Otherworld. Some of the medieval tales also associate Samhain with bonfires and sacrifice.
The festival was not recorded in detail until the early modern era. It was when cattle were brought down from the summer pastures and livestock were slaughtered. Special bonfires were lit, which were deemed to have protective and cleansing powers. Like Bealtaine, Samhain was a liminal or threshold festival, when the boundary between this world and the Otherworld blurred, making contact with the aos sí more likely. Most scholars see them as remnants of pagan deities. At Samhain, they were appeased with offerings of food and drink to ensure the people and livestock survived the winter. 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 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. The costumes may have been a way of imitating and disguising oneself from the aos sí. Divination was also a big part of the festival and often involved nuts and apples. In the late 19th century, John Rhys and James Frazer suggested it had been the "Celtic New Year", but that is disputed.
In the 9th century, the Western Church endorsed 1 November as the date of All Saints' Day, possibly due to the influence of Alcuin or Irish missionaries, and 2 November later became All Souls' Day. It is believed that Samhain and All Saints'/All Souls' influenced each other and the modern Halloween. 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.
Name
In Modern Irish and Scottish Gaelic the name is Samhain, while the traditional Manx Gaelic name is Sauin. It is usually written with the definite article An tSamhain, An t-Samhain, and Yn Tauin. Older forms of the word include the Scottish Gaelic spellings Samhainn and Samhuinn. The Gaelic names for the month of November are derived from Samhain. The Irish name for Samhain night is Oíche Shamhna.The name of the superficially similar Galician festival of Samaín from the Cedeira comarca is etymologically unrelated, being derived from Latin sambucum 'elderberry'.
Etymology
These names all come from the Old and Middle Irish Samain or Samuin, the name for the festival held on 1 November in medieval Ireland. Traditionally, it is derived from proto-Indo-European semo. But as John T. Koch points out, it is unclear why a festival marking the beginning of winter would include the word for 'summer'. Linguist Joseph Vendryes contends that it is unrelated, saying that the Celtic summer ended in August. More recently, linguists Xavier Delamarre and Ranko Matasović have proposed that it derives from proto-Celtic *samoni, cognate with Old Norse saman, Gothic samana and Sanskrit samāna, as well as the Old Irish term bech-samain. Delamarre further suggests it could refer to an "assembly of the living and the dead".The word Samain is believed to be related to the month name SAMON on the Gaulish Coligny calendar from the 2nd century CE. The 17th day of SAMON is marked as TRINOX SAMONI, indicating a possible festival. This festival could represent the early November festival of Samain, or possibly the summer solstice. Six months later is the month GIAMON, which appears to contain the word for "winter". An early Irish glossary, Sanas Cormaic, gives Gamain as "November, the winter month after the festival of Samain".
Origins
Samain or Samuin was the name of the festival marking the beginning of winter in Gaelic Ireland. It is attested in the earliest Old Irish literature, which dates from the 9th century onward. Samhain was one of four Gaelic seasonal festivals: Samhain, Imbolc, Bealtaine, and Lughnasa. Of these, Samhain and Bealtaine, marking the transitions into winter and summer respectively, are thought to have been the most significant. Sir James George Frazer, in his 1890 book, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion, theorized that these festivals, particularly 1 May and 1 November, were significant to herding communities practicing seasonal transhumance. Cattle were driven to summer pastures in May and returned to lowlands in November, suggesting the festival's pastoral origins.Some Neolithic passage tombs in Ireland are aligned with the sunrise around the times of Samhain and Imbolc. These include the Mound of the Hostages at the Hill of Tara, and Cairn L at Slieve na Calliagh.
In Irish mythology
While Irish mythology was originally a spoken tradition, much of it was eventually written down in the Middle Ages by Christian monks. The tenth-century tale Tochmarc Emire lists Samhain as the first of the four seasonal festivals of the year. The literature says a peace would be declared, and there were great gatherings where they held meetings, feasted, drank alcohol, and held contests. These gatherings are a popular setting for early Irish tales. The tale Echtra Cormaic says that the Feast of Tara was held every seventh Samhain, hosted by the High King of Ireland, during which new laws and duties were ordained; anyone who broke the laws established during this time would be banished.According to Irish mythology, Samhain was a time when the 'doorways' to the Otherworld opened, allowing supernatural beings and the souls of the dead to come into our world; while Bealtaine was a summer festival for the living, Samhain "was essentially a festival for the dead". The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn says that the sídhe "were always open at Samhain". Each year the fire-breather Aillen emerges from the Otherworld and burns down the palace of Tara during the Samhain festival after lulling everyone to sleep with his music.
One Samhain, the young Fionn mac Cumhaill, stays awake and slays Aillen with a magical spear, for which he is made leader of the fianna. In a similar tale, one Samhain, the Otherworld being Cúldubh emerges from the burial mound on Slievenamon and snatches a roast pig. Fionn kills Cúldubh with a spear throw as he re-enters the mound. Fionn's thumb is caught between the door and the post as it shuts, and he puts it in his mouth to ease the pain. As his thumb had been inside the Otherworld, Fionn is bestowed with great wisdom. This may refer to gaining knowledge from the ancestors. Acallam na Senórach tells how three female werewolves emerge from the cave of Cruachan each Samhain and kill livestock. When Cas Corach plays his harp, they take on human form, and the fianna warrior Caílte then slays them with a spear.
Some tales suggest that offerings or sacrifices were made at Samhain. In the Lebor Gabála Érenn, each Samhain the people of Nemed had to give two-thirds of their children, their corn, and their milk to the monstrous Fomorians. The Fomorians seem to represent the harmful or destructive powers of nature; personifications of chaos, darkness, death, blight, and drought. This tribute paid by Nemed's people may represent a "sacrifice offered at the beginning of winter, when the powers of darkness and blight are in the ascendant". According to the later Dindsenchas and the Annals of the Four Masters—which were written by Christian monks—Samhain in ancient Ireland was associated with a god or idol called Crom Cruach. The texts claim that a firstborn child would be sacrificed at the stone idol of Crom Cruach in Magh Slécht. They say that King Tigernmas, and three-fourths of his people, died while worshiping Crom Cruach there one Samhain.
The legendary kings Diarmait mac Cerbaill and Muirchertach mac Ercae each die a threefold death on Samhain, which involves wounding, burning, and drowning, and of which they are forewarned. In the tale Togail Bruidne Dá Derga, king Conaire Mór also meets his death on Samhain after breaking his geasa. He is warned of his impending doom by three undead horsemen who are messengers of Donn, the god of the dead. The Boyhood Deeds of Fionn tells how each Samhain the men of Ireland went to woo a beautiful maiden who lives in the fairy mound on Brí Éile. It says that each year someone would be killed "to mark the occasion", by persons unknown. Some academics suggest that these tales recall human sacrifice, and argue that several ancient Irish bog bodies appear to have been kings who were ritually killed, some of them around the time of Samhain.
In the Echtra Neraí, King Ailill of Connacht sets his retinue a test of bravery on Samhain night. He offers a prize to whoever can make it to a gallows and tie a band around a hanged man's ankle. Demons thwart each challenger, who runs back to the king's hall in fear. However, Nera succeeds, and the dead man asks for a drink. Nera carries him on his back, and they stop at three houses. They enter the third, where the dead man drinks and spits it on the householders, killing them. Returning, Nera sees a fairy host burning the king's hall and slaughtering those inside. He follows the host through a portal into the Otherworld. Nera learns that what he saw was only a vision of what will happen the next Samhain unless something is done. He returns to the hall and warns the king.
The tale Aided Chrimthainn maic Fidaig tells how Mongfind kills her brother, King Crimthann of Munster, so that one of her sons might become king. Mongfind offers Crimthann a poisoned drink at a feast, but he asks her to drink from it first. Having no other choice but to drink the poison, she dies on Samhain eve. The Middle Irish writer notes that Samhain is also called Féile Moingfhinne and that "women and the rabble make petitions to her" at Samhain.
Many other events in Irish mythology happen or begin on Samhain. The invasion of Ulster that makes up the main action of the Táin Bó Cúailnge begins on Samhain. As cattle-raiding typically was a summer activity, the invasion during this off-season surprised the Ulstermen. The Second Battle of Magh Tuireadh also begins on Samhain. The Morrígan and The Dagda meet and have sex before the battle against the Fomorians; in this way, the Morrígan acts as a sovereignty figure and gives the victory to the Dagda's people, the Tuatha Dé Danann. In Aislinge Óengusa it is when he and his bride-to-be switch from bird to human form, and in Tochmarc Étaíne it is the day on which Óengus claims the kingship of Brú na Bóinne.
Several sites in Ireland are especially linked to Samhain. Each Samhain, a host of otherworldly beings was said to emerge from the Cave of Cruachan in County Roscommon. The Hill of Ward in County Meath is thought to have been the site of a great Samhain gathering and bonfire; the Iron Age ringfort is said to have been where the goddess or druid Tlachtga gave birth to triplets and where she later died.
In The Stations of the Sun: A History of the Ritual Year in Britain, Ronald Hutton writes: "No doubt there were religious observances as well, but none of the tales ever portrays any". He says that the only historical reference to pagan religious rites is in the work of Geoffrey Keating, whose source is unknown. Hutton says it may be that no religious rites are mentioned because, centuries after Christianization, the writers had no record of them. Hutton suggests Samhain may not have been particularly associated with the supernatural. He says that the gatherings of royalty and warriors on Samhain may have been an ideal setting for such tales, in the same way that many Arthurian tales are set at courtly gatherings at Christmas or Pentecost.