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Samhain (/ ˈ s ɑː w ɪ n / SAH-win, / ˈ s aʊ ɪ n / SOW-in, Irish: [ˈsˠəunʲ], Scottish Gaelic: [ˈs̪ãũ.ɪɲ]) or Sauin (Manx: [ˈsoːɪnʲ]) is a Gaelic festival on 1 November marking the end of the harvest season and beginning of winter or the "darker half" of the year. [1]
In Ireland it is referred to in a common folk tale as Luan Lae Bealtaine; the first day of the week (Monday/ Luan) is added to highlight the first day of summer. [7] The name is anglicised as Beltane, Beltain, Beltaine, Beltine and Beltany. [2] Another Old Irish name for the festival was Cétshamain or Cétamain, probably meaning 'first of summer'.
The Irish calendar is the Gregorian calendar as it is in use in Ireland, but also incorporating Irish cultural festivals and views of the division of the seasons, presumably inherited from earlier Celtic calendar traditions. Winter - November, December, January (Samhain, Nollaig, Eanáir)
Lughnasadh, Lughnasa or Lúnasa (/ ˈ l uː n ə s ə / LOO-nə-sə, Irish: [ˈl̪ˠuːnˠəsˠə]) is a Gaelic festival marking the beginning of the harvest season. Historically, it was widely observed throughout Ireland, Scotland, and the Isle of Man. Traditionally, it is held on 1 August, or about halfway between the summer solstice and ...
October 31 brings the celebration of Samhain, the halfway point between the autumnal equinox and winter solstice. It marks the beginning of the “darker half” of the year. The autumn harvest is ...
Early Irish literature records that a royal gathering called the 'feast of Tara' (feis Temro) was held there at Samhain. [19] By the beginning of Ireland's historical period, Tara had become the seat of a sacral kingship. [19] Historian Dáibhí Ó Cróinín writes that Tara "possessed an aura that seemed to set it above" the other royal seats ...
One Samhain night when the warriors of Cruachan were feasting, King Aillil offered a prize to any man who was brave enough to put a wicker band around the ankle of a corpse that had been hanged. Because Samhain was considered to be a night when the dead have power, only Nera was courageous enough to volunteer.
Imbolc was one of four main seasonal festivals in Gaelic Ireland, along with Beltane (1 May), Lughnasadh (1 August) and Samhain (1 November). The tale Tochmarc Emire , which survives in a 10th-century version, names Imbolc as one of four seasonal festivals, and says it is "when the ewes are milked at spring's beginning".