Samhain (pronounced Sawin) is a festival held at the end of the harvest season in Gaelic and Brythonic cultures. The festival has aspects of a festival of the dead. Many scholars believe that it was the beginning of the Celtic year.
The term "Samhain" derives from the name of a month in the ancient Celtic calendar, in particular the first three nights of this month, with the festival marking the end of the summer season and the end of the harvest. The Gaelic festival became associated with the Catholic All Souls' Day, and appears to have influenced the secular customs now connected with Halloween. Samhain is also the name of a modern festival in various currents of Neopaganism that are based on, or inspired by, Gaelic traditions.
Samhain and an t-Samhain are also the Irish and Scottish Gaelic names of November, respectively.
All Hallows' Day on November 1 followed by All Souls' Day, on November 2. Over time, the night of October 31 came to be called All Hallow's Eve, and the remnants festival dedicated to the dead eventually morphed into the secular holiday known as Halloween.
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