Samhain is the Gaelic festival that marks the end of the harvest and the start of winter, held from sunset on October 31 to sunset on November 1. In Ireland and Scotland it was the night the dead came home and the fairy folk walked abroad, and much of what we now call Halloween grew out of it. Today Samhain is also one of the eight sabbats on the modern pagan Wheel of the Year, and for many practitioners it is the most important night of the whole year.
Say it "SOW-in," like the word for a mother pig, and our Samhain pronunciation guide covers the Irish, Scottish, and Welsh versions if you want to hear them.
What Is Samhain?
Samhain is the old Irish and Scottish feast that closes the light half of the year and opens the dark half. It was a working holiday as much as a sacred one: the cattle came down from the summer pastures, the animals that could not be fed through winter were slaughtered, and the last of the harvest went into storage. With the food put by and the long nights arriving, it was also a time for great gatherings, feasting, and fires.
It was a spiritual threshold, too. People believed the boundary between this world and the Otherworld was easy to cross at Samhain, so the dead visited the homes they had lived in and the Aos Sí, the spirits of the land and the fairy folk, came out of their mounds. Food and drink were left out for both.
Samhain is one of four Gaelic seasonal festivals, along with Imbolc, Beltane, and Lughnasadh. Our guide to the pagan holidays and the Wheel of the Year shows where it sits among all eight sabbats.
What Does Samhain Mean?
Samhain is the Irish name for the festival and for the month of November, and its oldest form, Old Irish samain, is usually read as "summer's end." That reading comes from the Proto-Indo-European root for "summer," and it is the meaning you will see most often.
Linguists do not all agree, though. Some point out that it is strange to name a winter feast after summer, and the scholars Xavier Delamarre and Ranko Matasović have proposed a Proto-Celtic root, samoni-, meaning "assembly" or "coming together." Delamarre suggested the festival was an assembly of the living and the dead, which fits the night beautifully.
The word is very old either way. The Coligny calendar, a bronze Gaulish calendar from the 2nd century CE, names a month SAMON and marks "the three nights of Samon" within it. In modern Irish, Samhain is still the word for November, Halloween night is Oíche Shamhna, and the Manx Gaelic name is Sauin.
When Is Samhain 2026?
Samhain 2026 begins at sunset on Saturday, October 31, and ends at sunset on Sunday, November 1. The Gaelic day began at sundown, which is why the celebration starts on the evening before the date.
- Northern Hemisphere: Sunset October 31 to sunset November 1, 2026.
- Southern Hemisphere: Many pagans keep Samhain from April 30 to May 1, when their own autumn turns to winter.
- The astronomical date: Some practitioners prefer the true cross-quarter day, the halfway point between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice, which falls around November 7.
Samhain also lands in the middle of Scorpio season, and our Scorpio season guide lists every big sky event around it.
The History of Samhain
Samhain is mentioned in the earliest Irish literature we have, from the 9th century onward. The 10th-century tale Tochmarc Emire lists it first among the four great seasonal festivals, and many of the most dramatic stories in Irish mythology happen on Samhain night: battles, deaths, and visits to and from the Otherworld.
It was a festival of kings and crowds. The great Feast of Tara was held at Samhain, and the 17th-century historian Geoffrey Keating wrote that druids lit a sacred bonfire on Tlachtga, the Hill of Ward, with every other fire in the region put out and relit from it. Even older than the stories, the Mound of the Hostages on the Hill of Tara, a Neolithic passage tomb, is aligned with the sunrise around Samhain and Imbolc.
Was Samhain the Celtic New Year?
Samhain is often called the Celtic New Year, but the evidence for that is thin. The idea came from the 19th-century scholar John Rhys, and James Frazer made it famous in The Golden Bough, although Frazer himself admitted the evidence was inconclusive.
The historian Ronald Hutton calls that evidence "flimsy." What we can say for sure is that Samhain opened the winter half of the year and began the Irish list of festivals. Whether you treat it as New Year's Eve is up to you, and plenty of modern practitioners do.
The Aos Sí and the Returning Dead
Samhain was the night the doors between the worlds stood open. The Aos Sí could pass into our world more easily, and people left them food and drink so the household would come safely through the winter. Many scholars see these fairy folk as the old gods of Ireland, remembered in a smaller form.
The dead came home too. Families set places at the table for the people they had lost, and in Ireland Halloween was sometimes called "ghost night." This is the root of the dumb supper, a meal eaten in total silence with a plate and chair set for the dead.
Is Samhain the Same as Halloween?
Samhain is not the same as Halloween, but Halloween grew from it. Halloween is All Hallows' Eve, the night before the Christian All Saints' Day, and over the centuries the two holidays sat on the same night and shared their customs.
The Christian calendar met Samhain in stages. By 835, the Frankish Empire had made November 1 All Saints' Day, and in the 11th century November 2 became All Souls' Day, the day for praying for the dead. Scholars still debate whether the church chose November 1 because of Samhain; Hutton thinks the date has a Germanic origin instead. Either way, the old customs and the new feasts blended in Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man.
Irish and Scottish immigrants carried those customs to North America in the 19th century. Their turnip lanterns became pumpkin jack-o'-lanterns, and their costumed guising became trick-or-treating.
Is Samhain a Demon or a God?
Samhain is not a demon or a god; it is the name of a festival and a month. There is no Celtic "Lord of the Dead" called Samhain anywhere in medieval Irish writing.
The idea comes from Charles Vallancey, an 18th-century British army surveyor with a lot of creative theories about Irish history. In 1786 he wrote about a death god named "Saman," and even his contemporaries mocked the work. The story of how the myth spread is a good one: it was repeated in Halloween books well into the 20th century, and later in pamphlets warning families away from Halloween.
The real death figures of Irish tradition have their own names, such as Donn, the lord of the house of the dead, and the Morrígan, who meets the Dagda at Samhain in the tale Cath Maige Tuired.
Samhain Traditions
The oldest Samhain traditions are bonfires, food for the dead, divination, guising, and carved lanterns. Most of them were still alive in rural Ireland and Scotland in the 1800s, and the National Museum of Ireland holds examples of several.
- Bonfires: Communities lit great fires on hilltops, and people believed their smoke and flame had protective and cleansing powers. In some places household hearths were put out and relit from the bonfire.
- A place for the dead: Families set places at the table and left food and drink out for returning souls.
- Divination: Samhain was the night for reading the future, mostly about love and marriage. Two hazelnuts were set in the fire side by side for a couple, and if they burned quietly together the match was a good one. Apple bobbing and peeling an apple in one long strip to see the shape of a sweetheart's initial come from the same night.
- Barmbrack: This fruit bread was baked with small tokens inside, and the slice you got told your fortune. A ring meant marriage within the year, and a coin meant wealth. Our guide to Samhain offerings covers more traditional foods.
- Guising: From at least 16th-century Scotland, people went door to door in costume, reciting verses or performing in exchange for food. Disguise kept you safe from any spirits about, or let you play one.
- Turnip lanterns: In Ireland and the Scottish Highlands, people hollowed turnips and carved faces in them to carry as lanterns. Turnips are much harder to carve than pumpkins, and the results look much spookier. Our guide to turnip jack-o'-lanterns covers their history and how to carve one.
- Souling: In England, the poor went "souling" for soul cakes, small spiced cakes given in return for prayers for the household's dead.
Samhain Today: The Witches' New Year
For many modern witches and Wiccans, Samhain is the Witches' New Year and the most important sabbat on the Wheel of the Year. Wicca counts it among the four greater sabbats, and the Witches' New Year name grew from the old Celtic New Year idea.
Most of all, Samhain is the night for the ancestors. Many practitioners believe the veil between the living and the dead is at its thinnest at Samhain, which makes it the best night of the year for speaking with the people you have lost, for spirit work, and for divination. If you have ever felt a presence in the room on October 31, you are in very good company.
Different paths keep the night in different ways. Celtic Reconstructionist pagans aim to follow the historical customs closely, and some open a west-facing window or door and set a candle there to guide the dead home. Eclectic witches might combine an ancestor altar, a tarot reading, and a horror movie, and that is a perfectly good Samhain too.
Samhain Symbols and Correspondences
The main Samhain symbols are the turnip or pumpkin lantern, the bonfire, apples, nuts, the besom, and the cauldron. Most correspondences below come from modern practice built on the old harvest and ancestor themes, so use the ones that speak to you.
| Correspondence | Samhain associations |
|---|---|
| Colors | Black for the dark half of the year and protection, orange for the last of the harvest and the fire, and deep purple or silver for spirit work and the ancestors. Our candle color guide explains each one. |
| Foods | Apples, pomegranates, hazelnuts, pumpkins, turnips, root vegetables, barmbrack, soul cakes, and anything your ancestors loved to eat. |
| Herbs | Mugwort is used for dreams and divination, rosemary is for remembrance, sage and bay are for cleansing, and dried autumn leaves sit on many Samhain altars. Our mugwort guide covers its traditional uses. |
| Crystals | Black obsidian, black onyx, jet, and smoky quartz are used for protection and grounding, and obsidian is a favorite for scrying. |
| Tools | The cauldron, the besom, a black scrying mirror or crystal ball, spirit boards, and black salt for protection. |
| Animals | The crow, the raven, the owl, the bat, and the black cat. |
| Deities | Many modern practitioners honor the Morrígan, the Cailleach, and Hecate at Samhain, along with their own ancestors. |
If you want to gather any of these, the Samhain Shop has cauldrons, besoms, black candles, and spirit boards together in one place, and our divination tools are a good start for the night's readings.
How to Celebrate Samhain
You can celebrate Samhain by honoring your ancestors, holding a quiet ritual, reading the future, or keeping the old customs with friends and family. You can do one of these or all of them, and lighting a single candle for someone you miss is a complete Samhain on its own.
- Build an ancestor altar. Set out photos, heirlooms, and a candle for the people you have lost. Our Samhain altar guide has photos and ideas.
- Leave an offering. Bread, apples, a glass of something your grandmother liked, or a plate from dinner all work. Here are 13 traditional Samhain offerings.
- Hold a dumb supper. Eat a meal in silence with an empty place set for the dead. The dumb supper guide walks you through it step by step.
- Do an ancestor ritual. Our Samhain ancestor ritual is a simple way to connect with your spirit family.
- Try divination. Pull tarot cards for the year ahead, scry in a dark mirror or bowl of water, or play the old hazelnut and apple games.
- Protect your home. Sweep the threshold with a besom or lay a line of black salt.
- Carve a turnip lantern. Our turnip jack-o'-lantern guide walks you through it. It takes longer than a pumpkin, and it puts you right back in a 19th-century Irish kitchen.
- Light a fire. A bonfire, a fire pit, or a candle in the window keeps the oldest Samhain custom of all.
When you light a candle for your ancestors, you can say a short verse like this one:
By this flame I call you near,
Ones I love, be welcome here.
Samhain is a night for remembering. Whether you set a full table or light one small candle, the people who came before you are part of the night again.
Happy Samhain: Samhain Greetings
The most common Samhain greetings are "Happy Samhain" and "Blessed Samhain." In Irish, you can say Oíche Shamhna shona duit, which means "Happy Samhain night to you."
Some people also wish each other a happy new year on Samhain, since so many practitioners keep it as the Witches' New Year. For longer blessings to write in cards or say at the table, see our 13 Samhain blessings and chants.
Samhain FAQ
Is Samhain the same as Halloween?
Samhain is not the same as Halloween, but it is Halloween's oldest ancestor. Halloween began as All Hallows' Eve, the night before All Saints' Day, and it took on the Samhain customs of guising, lanterns, and divination in Ireland and Scotland.
When is Samhain 2026?
Samhain 2026 runs from sunset on Saturday, October 31, to sunset on Sunday, November 1. In the Southern Hemisphere, many pagans celebrate it on April 30 to May 1 instead.
Is Samhain a pagan holiday?
Samhain is a pagan holiday in its roots, since it was celebrated in Gaelic Ireland and Scotland long before Christianity arrived. Today it is one of the eight sabbats that modern pagans, Wiccans, and witches celebrate.
Is Samhain a demon?
Samhain is not a demon or a god. The "Lord of the Dead" named Samhain was invented by the antiquarian Charles Vallancey in the 18th century, and no medieval Irish source mentions him.
Do you have to be pagan to celebrate Samhain?
You do not have to be pagan to celebrate Samhain. Anyone can honor their ancestors, light a candle for the dead, or keep the old harvest customs, and many people with Irish or Scottish family roots celebrate it as part of their heritage.
What do you eat on Samhain?
Traditional Samhain foods include barmbrack, apples, hazelnuts, root vegetables, colcannon, and soul cakes. Many people also cook a favorite dish of someone they have lost and set a plate aside for them.
Is Samhain the same as Día de los Muertos?
Samhain and Día de los Muertos are separate holidays that share a season and a love for the dead. Día de los Muertos is a Mexican celebration held on November 1 and 2, with Indigenous and Catholic roots, and its customs are best learned from the families and communities who keep them.
Why is the veil thin at Samhain?
Many practitioners believe the veil is thin at Samhain because it is the turning point between the light and dark halves of the year. In Gaelic tradition, it was the night the Otherworld opened, the dead came home, and the Aos Sí walked among the living.
