Samhain The night of 31 October—Halloween—is "Oíche Shamhna" (Irish), "Oidhche Shamhna" (Scottish Gaelic) and "Oie Houney" (Manx), meaning "Samhain night". The day of 1 November, or the whole festival, may be called "Lá Samhna" (Irish), "Là Samhna" (Scottish Gaelic) and "Laa Houney" (Manx), meaning "Samhain day". These names all come from the Old Irish "Samain" or "Samuin" , the name for the festival held on 1 November in medieval Ireland. This comes from Proto-Indo-European "*semo-" ("summer"). One suggestion is that the name means "summer's end", from "sam" ("summer") and "fuin" ("end"), but this may be a folk etymology. In 1907, Whitley
Hill of Tara dates. Within 12 miles of the Hill of Tara is another significant site known as Hill of Ward or Tlachtga, named after a powerful druidess. The site dates from 200 AD and is reputed to be the place of the first Celtic Pagan Fire Festival that took place on the eve of Samhain, 31 October. It was a pagan ritual of burning cattle bones, referred to then as bonefires or 'tine cnámh'. Samhain was later incorporated or replaced by All Saints' Day in the Christian calendar. A theory that may predate the Hill of Tara's splendor before Milesian times is