Anocht Oidhche Shamhna! (Happy New Year!) Samhain (pronounced Sow-en) or Samhuinn (also pronounced Sow-en I guess) "was (and is) considered a very magical time, when the dead walk among the living and the veils between past, present and future may be lifted in prophecy and divination." It's also a good candidate for the most important historical holiday in the European pagan calendar.

Isaac Bonewitz's Neopagan.net has a few pages about the history and misconceptions & lies about All Hallows Eve from the neo-pagan perspective . Concerned that he's trying to get you join some loony cult of tree huggers? While you're there, run Mr. Bonewitz through his own Cult Danger Evaluation Frame and see if you're still scared.
posted by illovich on Oct 31, 2005 - 94 comments

For some, Halloween can mean candy, treats, and tricks. For others, Samhain can be an important religious holiday. The Witch's Sabbats are the calendar of pagans, where the celebration of time is underway. There are more rituals then could all be linked. Some prefer solitude, while some prefer groups. There is a Christian understanding of the correlation between Pagan holidays and Christian holidays. But then some people pull the old Bible out. And then some people just miss the point entirely.
posted by benjh on Oct 22, 2002 - 28 comments