I may be misunderstanding your post Jordyn, but I'm gathering you're asking whether Samhain is Wiccan or Celtic, and either way, there does not exist a god called Samhain so why would the Celts celebrate it?


This is how I understand it, and may be proven wrong of course. Originally it is and remains a Celtic seasonal celebration. Wicca and Celtic spiritualism is essentially Pagan and therefore intertwined, yet significantly differ on many points. Wicca certainly contains many aspects of Celtic mythology, lore and folk magick but as an organized Religion it is less than a century old. It's a man made religion, with Crowley and Gardner as the forerunners. So technically speaking, Samhain is not a Wicca original. Gardner formulated his creation by fusing together Eastern philosophies, Egyptian ideologies and Judaic ceremonialism, in addition to Celtic lore. So Wicca draws its traditions and principles from a vast variety of origins.

Now as for Samhain, I believe it is indeed a Celtic celebration. The calendar and lives of the Celts were guided by the lunar and stellar cycles. "The Celtic day began at sunset, reinforcing the influence of the moon and stars on the culture. They believed that the New Year began at sundown on the eve of November 1st, which falls on October 31st or “Halloween” for us. Oidhche Shamhna, the Eve of Samhain, was the most important part of Samhain." So I don't think there needed to have been a god reference concerning this celebration, but merely celebrating the changing seasons, the New Year and the fact that the "dead walked the earth". This "holiday" is not only celebrated in its true form by Pagans and Wiccans alone, no matter the religious denomination, Celts today still celebrate this event as it was done in ages past. The word itself is the compound word derived from the Scots Gaelic words "sam," meaning, "summer" and "fuin," meaning, "end." So Samhain, or Samain, means literally "end of summer."

"The Irish-English dictionary defines Samhain as: "All Hallowtide, the feast of the dead in Pagan and Christian times, signaling the close of harvest and start of winter." The Scottish Gaelis Dictionary defines it as "Hallowtide. The feast of All Souls." So as you can see, Halloween is tied to the Samhain, although today it's only a pale shadow of the original Celtic festival."


"On the spiritual level Samhain was a time of inner contemplation because, for a warrior race, death was always present though not the tragedy it is in modern times. The important thing was to die with honor, live in the memory of the clan, and be honored at the great feast, Fleadh nan Mairbh (Feast of the Dead), which was held on Samhain Eve. This, for the Celts, was the most magical time of the year. They believed that when people died they went to the land of eternal youth and happiness called Tir nan Og, and they also believed that the turning points of time, such as day to night and summer to winter, were magical times. The Eve of Samhain, which was the turning point of the year, was even more so; it was believed that the veil between the two worlds was at its thinnest and that the living could communicate with their beloved dead in Tir nan Og."

Though entirely different, Mexico also celebrates a “Day of the Dead”!!