Tag: Samhain
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Samhain—Enduring Night of the Living Dead
With its ghouls, jack-o-lanterns, and trick-or-treaters shouting BOO, Halloween is the unadulterated descendent of Samhain, the ancient Celtic festival of the dead. Pronounced SOW (rhymes with cow) –in, the word comes from the Proto-Indo-European root word *semo- (summer), and the Proto-Celtic *samoni- (reunion, assembly). It literally means “an assembly to celebrate the harvest.” The Celts…