Some believe that Samhain was the more important festival, marking the beginning of a whole new cycle, just as the Celtic day began at night. For it was understood that in dark silence comes whisperings of new beginnings, the stirring of the seed below the ground. Whereas Beltane welcomes in the summer with joyous celebrations at dawn, the most magically potent time of this festival is November Eve, the night of October 31st, known today of course, as Halloween.

In the country year, Samhain marked the first day of winter, when the herders led the cattle and sheep down from their summer hillside pastures to the shelter of stable and byre. The hay that would feed them during the winter must be stored in sturdy thatched ricks, tied down securely against storms.

Those destined for the table were slaughtered, after being ritually devoted to the gods in pagan times. All the harvest must be gathered in -- barley, oats, wheat, turnips, and apples -- for come November, the faeries would blast every growing plant with their breath, blighting any nuts and berries remaining on the hedgerows. Peat and wood for winter fires were stacked high by the hearth. It was a joyous time of family reunion, when all members of the household worked together baking, salting meat, and making preserves for the winter feasts to come.

The endless horizons of summer gave way to a warm, dim and often smoky room; the symphony of summer sounds was replaced by a counterpoint of voices, young and old, human and animal. In early Ireland, people gathered at the ritual centers of the tribes, for Samhain was the principal calendar feast of the year.

The greatest assembly was the 'Feast of Tara,' focusing on the royal seat of the High King as the heart of the sacred land, the point of conception for the new year. In every household throughout the country, hearth-fires were extinguished.  All waited for the Druids to light the new fire of the year -- not at Tara, but at Tlachtga, a hill twelve miles to the north-west. It marked the burial-place of Tlachtga, daughter of the great druid Mogh Ruith, who may once have been a goddess in her own right in a former age.

At all the turning points of the Celtic year, the gods drew near to Earth at Samhain, so many sacrifices and gifts were offered up in thanksgiving for the harvest. Personal prayers in the form of objects symbolizing the wishes of supplicants or ailments to be healed were cast into the fire,and at the end of the ceremonies, brands were lit from the great fire of Tara to re-kindle all the home fires of the tribe, as at Beltane. As they received the flame that marked this time of beginnings, people surely felt a sense of the kindling of new dreams, projects and hopes for the year to come.

Colors: Black, White, Silver, Gold, Red and Orange

Other Names: Halloween, Hallowmas, All Hallows Eve, Day of the Dead, Feast of Spirits, Third Harvest, Samonios, All Saint's Eve, Martinmas, Celtic New Year, Samhuinn, Celtic Winter, Samana, Festival of Pamona, Vigil of Saman, Hallowe'en, Vigil of Todos, Santos.

Symbols: Jack-o'-Lantern, Balefire, Besom, Masks, The Cauldron, Waning Moon.

Deities: All Crone Goddesses, The Dying/Dead God

Activities: Divination, Past-life Recall, Spirit Contact, Meditation, Drying Winter.

Taboos: After dark, Eating grapes or berries.

Animals: Bats and Cats

Stones: Obsidian, Onyx, Carnelian, All Black Stones.

Plants and Herbs: Allspice, Broom, Deadly Nightshade, Mandrake, Oak leaves, Sage, Straw, Apple, Mugwort, Gourds, Allspice, Catnip

Meaning: Wisdom of Crone, Death of God, Reflection on our place in the Wheel of the Year, Honoring of the Dead, End of Summer, New Year (Celtic), Celebrating Reincarnation.

Attunement Teas: (Individually or Blended) Apple Cider, Angelica, Catnip, Indian Hyppo, Sage, Valerian.

Incense: Heliotrope, Mint, Nutmeg.

Ritual Oils: Frankincense, Basil, Yarrow, Lilac, Ylang-Ylang, Camphor, Clove

Goddesses: All Crone Goddesses, Al-llat (Persian), Babd (Irish), Bebhionn (Irish), Brunhilde (Teutonic), Carlin (Scottish), Cerridwen (Welsh-Scottish), Devanyani (Indian), Edda (Norse), Eris (Greek), Frau Holde (Teutonic), All Under World Goddesses, Baba Yaga (Russian), Bast (Egyptian), Bronach (Irish), Caillech/Cailleac (Irish-Scottish), Cassandra (Greek), Crobh Dearg (Irish), Dolya (Russian), Elli (Teutonic), Fortuna (Greco-Roman), Frigga/Frey (Norse), Hakea (Polynesian), Hel (Norse), Inanna (Sumerian), Kali (Hindu), Kele-De (Irish), Macha (Irish), Mari (Hindu), Marzana (Slavic), Nicnevin (Anglo-Scottish), Psyche (Greek), Remati (Tibetan), Zorya Vechernaya (Slavic), Hecate (Greek), Husbishag (Semitie), Ishtar (Babylonian), Kalma (Finnish-Yugoritic), Lilith (Hebrew), Mara (Persian), Mari-Ama (Norse), The Morrigu/Morrigan (Celtic), Pamona (Roman), The Queen of Elphame (Scottish), Rhiannon (Welsh).

Gods: All Death Gods, All Aged Gods, All Underworld Gods, Am-Heh (Egyptian), Arawn (Welsh), Corn Father (Native American), Coyote Brother (Native American), Dis (Roman), Eite-Ade (Etruscan), Ghede (Voodun), Hades (Greek), Heimdall (Norse), The Great Horned God (European), Kronos/Cronus (Greco-Phoenician), Loki (Norse), Maderha (Lapp), Nefertum (Egyptian), Odin (Norse), Pluto (Greco-Roman), Rangi (Maori), Samana (aryan), Sekhet (Egyptian), Woden (Teutonic), Xocatl (Aztec).

Lore: It is traditional on Samhain night to leave a plate of outside the for the souls of the dead. A placed in the window guides them to the lands of eternal summer, and burying apples in the hard-packed earth "feeds" the passed ones on their journey.