Samhain,(SOW-in), Celtic for "End of Summer", is the celebration of the third and final Harvest. Celebrated on October 31st and November 1st, Samhain is also called the 'Witches' New Year'. This is the third and final Harvest of the season. Any crops still in the field by Samhain were left as offerings to insure health and plenty in the New Year.

According to Gaelic lore, the Tuatha de Danaan are on the move on this night, and it is customary to leave an offerings of treats on the doorstep for the faerie folk that they may refresh themselves on their journey and in so doing bless the home with good fortune for the coming year.

This is a magical time when the Veil between the worlds is thinnest and communication between the world of the living and the afterlife is easiest. Because of this we decorate our altars in remembrance of our ancestors and others who have passed on and whose legacies have most influenced our own lives. We can honor them in many ways. We can set them a place at our tables, we can make offerings of food, incense, burning candles, and other items of meaning to them on our ancestral altars. We can talk about them, remember their lives, and honor their memory.

The God in his Sage aspect passes through the veil at this time and enters the realm of the dead, leaving the Goddess to mourn until Yule, when the God shall be born again and rejoin her as the Bright Son of the new year, demonstrating one of the Great Mysteries: All Endings are New Beginnings.

This is a time of both celebration and introspection, a time of rest, renewal, and reflection.