The “een” in “Halloween” is from evening. Like Christmas Eve, Halloween is the eve of All Hallows / All Saints. In the traditional Celtic Calendar, like the Jewish calendar but unlike the Roman one we use today for civil matters, the day went from sunset to sunset.
ETA: Samhain is the Irish word for (1) Nov. 1st and (2) the month of November. Traditionally, this begins with sunset on October 31.
ETA again: There is a great deal of scholarship on the relationship of Samhain to All Saints’. I’ll see if I can dig up a good cite for you.
Just some citations from JSTOR on the fly (I’m travelling and don’t have access to everything): E. O. James, “The Influence of Folklore on the History of Religion,” Numen, Vol. 9, Fasc. 1 (Jan., 1962), pp. 1-16 (ref. p. 13)
Marie-Louise Sjoestedt-Jonvals, *Dieux et Heros des Celtes *(Paris, 1940), 71. (Ref. lifted from Helen Sewell Johnson, “November Eve Beliefs and Customs in Irish Life and Literature,” The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 81, No. 320 (Apr. - Jun., 1968), pp. 133-142)
It’s quite commonly accepted in Celtic Studies. I think there’s something in Gregory of Tours that clinches it, but I don’t have the reference handy.
Hmm, I did say IIRC That was more than 40 years ago. But I thought St Blaise Day, the blessing of the throats was always the same day as Groundhogs Day, February 2.
Candles are blessed on 2 February for the feast of the Purification of the BVM. Those blessed candles are then used for the Blessing of Throats the next day. We choir members are particularly fond of the throat blessing.
It was sufficiently important in the Middle Ages that terms at my university were Martinmas, **Candlemas **and Whitsun.
I do like all those Candlemas weather things.
“If Candlemas Day is fine and clear
there’ll be two winters in the year”.
And so many others like that.
I had never heard of the groundhog thing until I heard it from an American student flatmate once. It was also she who mentioned the “blessing throats”, of which I had not previously heard. I was not brought up R.C., but my mother was, and I still had never heard of it.
Back to the weather thing: if I go out on Imbolc/Candlemas/Cute Interesting Rodent Day this year and it is fine and clear, I shall buy a lot of foodstuffs and prepare to hibernate. There has been enough of the pretty cute snow for now.
That was more than 40 years ago. But I thought St Blaise Day, the blessing of the throats was always the same day as Groundhogs Day, February 2.