08/29/2023
What is Samhain? It does not read how it's pronounced, which is :sow win:
Samhain (All Hallows)
Neopagans honoring the dead as part of a Samhain ritual
Main articles: Samhain and Halloween
Samhain (/ˈsɑːwɪn/) is the name of a traditional Gaelic festival held around 1 November. The name and date were adopted by Wiccans for one of their four Greater Sabbats. For Wiccans, Samhain is a time to celebrate the lives of those who have passed on, and it often involves paying respect to ancestors, family members, elders of the faith, friends, pets, and other loved ones who have died. Aligned with the contemporary observance of Halloween and Day of the Dead, in some traditions the spirits of the departed are invited to attend the festivities. It is seen as a festival of darkness, which is balanced at the opposite point of the Wheel by the festival of Beltane, which is celebrated as a festival of light and fertility.[36] Many neopagans believe that the veil between this world and the afterlife is at its thinnest point of the year at Samhain, making it easier to communicate with those who have departed.[13]
Some authorities claim the Christian festival of All Hallows Day (All Saints Day) and the preceding evening are appropriations of Samhain by early Christian missionaries to the British Isles.[37][38]