(Feast Day of Shadows / Night of Samhain)
Also known as Hallows or Samhainn – the Witches’ New Year

This is the time of the death of the year. The final leaves fall. The fields lie bare. The harvest is complete. The sun sinks ever lower, and darkness lengthens its hold.

At Là Fhèill nan Sgàthan, the Feast of Shadows, we honor the thinning veil and those who have crossed beyond. Ancestors, beloved dead, spirits of kin and place—all are remembered, welcomed, and fed. We make offerings at the hearth and the crossroads, weaving memory and legacy into our rites. This is the season when witches walk with care. Portals open. Boundaries shift. The genii loci stir and test their keepers. The final harvest—of soul and story—takes place now. It is a time of saining, silence, and shadow.

Oidhche Shamhna – The Night of Samhain

This sacred vigil marks the hinge between old and new—the turning of the year in many traditions of the Craft. Though the civil calendar in Scotland shifted the New Year to March 25th in 1600, the older rhythm persists in our bones.

Oidhche Shamhna is a night of reverence and magic, when the worlds touch. The dead may walk. The fey may roam. The veil is thin, and all things may speak.

We mark the night with:

• Candles in the windows to guide returning spirits
• Dumb suppers held in silence for the honored dead
• Divinatory rites—apple peeling, mirror gazing, scrying
• Offerings at threshold places—wells, gates, hearths, crossroads
• Bonfires and lanterns, echoing ancient need-fires and warding flames

Though ghosts may roam and mischief be afoot, this is not a night of fear—it is one of remembrance, reverence, and renewal. We walk between worlds not to escape, but to embrace.eils.