Samhain is not the Celtic New Year

Presented here is a review of documents that a century or so ago laid the foundations of the popular view that states that the fire-feast of Samhain marks the beginning of the Celtic year. This view is today expressed over a widespread literature, from academic texts and Celtic Dictionaries, through to the plethora of New Age and Druidic publications now available.

This appraisal will draw attention to flaws in this now orthodox view, and questions its validity. Key publications are examined and support for an alternate view, that the Celtic year began with the summer, is presented.

This review centres on the 1886 Hibbert Lectures presented by Sir John Rhys, for it was in this lecture series that the first claim was made for Samhain marking the beginning of Celtic year. Critical reading of this source reveals that the evidence presented by Sir John Rhys was misrepresented or presented inaccurately and that the conclusion he reached was forced and an erroneous conclusion presented. Page 514 of the 1886 Hibbert Lectures should be very carefully read by anyone asserting that Samhain is the Celtic New Year - for this is the page upon which rests a century of unreferenced statements saying that Samhain is the Celtic new year. Briefly, an incorrect rendition of Julius Caesar's 'Dis Pater' passage in his Gallic Wars ("in their computation of time they began with night and winter"), some meddling with Cormac's Glossary ("I should propose to mend the original") and a spurious comparative study of Celtic and Greek festivals ("a year which was common to Celts with Greeks is not unlikely to have once been common to them with some or all of the other branches of the Aryan family") formed the basis of Sir John Rhys' claim. Subsequent to these famous lectures, populists such as Charles Squire in the 1910s helped shape the views of the public and academics alike ("Samhain...was the beginning too, of the ancient Celtic Year"), and with images of "the gods of darkness, winter, and the Underworld". To rebut Sir John Rhys, it is sufficient to correctly quote Caesar, namely: "they [the Celts] go on the principle that the day begins at night".

In 1922, Sir James Frazer published his abridged version of The Golden Bough (the full version had grown to twelve volumes by this time over the course of about 30 years). This work was famously used in the British Lion horror movie, The Wicker Man in the 1970s. In a comprehensive exposition of European fire festivals, Frazer presents another piece of evidence to provide a spurious conclusion in support of Samhain being the Celtic new year: "In ancient Ireland, a new fire used to be...kindled every year on Hallowe'en...and from this sacred flame all the fires of Ireland were rekindled [which] points strongly to Samhain [being] New Year's Day; since the annual kindling of a new fire takes place naturally at the beginning of the year..." If this is true, then the "Beltane fires...kindled also in Ireland...as a safeguard [to cattle] against the diseases of the year", the Scottish Beltane fires, described as "the most considerable of the Druidic festivals", the Welsh Beltaine fires and the Hebridean Beltaine fires from which "each man would take home fire wherewith to kindle his own" would therefore equally 'take place naturally at the beginning of the year': The winter fires are the lighting of the hearths in preparation for the cold times ahead, and are performed ritually after the dangerous build up of ash and debris had been cleared. Frazer's so-called strong point is moot; he even states, "The two great Celtic festivals of May Day and the first of November...closely resemble each other in the manner of their celebration".

Sir James Frazer also relates that "Manx mummers used to go round on Hallowe'en (Old Style), singing, in the Manx Language, a sort of Hogmanay song which began "To-night is New Year's Night, Hogunnaa!" The original reporting of this is in fact concerns a custom performed at Hollantide, and the Manx unintelligible.

Sir James Frazer also acknowledges that he is providing only supporting evidence, evidently to Sir John Rhys' contention, that Samhain marks the Celtic new year is his statement that he refers to "the view that the Celts dated their year from the first of November", and he beseeches his audience that "we may with some probability infer that they [the Celts] reckoned their year from Hallowe'en rather than Beltane".

In 1934, Henri Herbert published The Greatness and Decline of the Celts. In this, he also refers to Samhain as "probably" the Celtic new year ("Samhain (1st November) marked the end of summer (samos) and probably the beginning of the year"), and adds no information to support the idea or a reference to John Rhys. However, after the publication of this cautiously worded work, the acceptance of Samhain as the beginning of the Celtic year appears as orthodox. By editing Henri Herbert's text, we are able to produce the current orthodoxy that will be familiar to the reader from a wide range of publications: To demonstrate this, here is an edited version of Herbert (the full text is provided under his name from the link above) -

"There were four chief feasts. Samhain (1st November) marked...the beginning of the year. Six months later, on the 1st of May, at the beginning of summer (cèt-saman), came Beltane, the feast of the fire (tein) of Bel or Bile...At Samahin the great battle of the gods was fought at Moytura, between the Formorians and the Tuatha Dé Danann... [At the feasts] spirits were let loose and wonders...happened. In Wales the year was divided in the same way [and] in Gaul...in the Coligny calendar we can distinguish...Samonos"

Today, in publications discussing the Celtic fire feasts, no referencing to these original sources is provided anymore when statements about Samhain being the Celtic new year are made, and consequently the view has become entrenched, and indeed expanded on in New Age philosophy.

If we go back to the opening years of the twentieth century, we can see that the impact of the 1886 Hibbert Lectures had not yet been made, for there is nothing "probable" about Samhain being a Celtic new year. We are told by PW Joyce in his A Social History of Ancient Ireland of 1903, that in 1847 the timing of the beginning of the Celtic year was unknown, and "Some years later O'Curry asserted that according to the authority of an ancient Irish poem, of which he had a copy, the year began on the 1st February. We must presume that this is correct; but he has not given the stanza in which the statement is made, and I have never seen the poem". This is important to consider, because it highlights that there was no continuous knowledge from ancient times to the present of the timing of the new year, and that antiquarians were searching for evidence of when the Celts began the year.

Touching on this poem that O'Curry said he had seen, the following poem is published on the website Fada 's Farsaing (Far and Wide) by Liam O Caiside: It certainly fits the description given by Joyce -

"Rathaí firinneacha na bliana:
Rath ó Lá 'le Bríde go Bealtaine,
Rath ó Bhealtaine go Lúnasa
Rath ó Lúnasa go Samhain,
Rath ó Shamhain go Lá 'le Bríde.

The true seasons of the year:
The season from St. Bridget's Day to May Day,
The season from May Day to Lúnasa,
The season from Lúnasa to Samhain,
The season from Samhain to St. Bridget's Day.

If we look at literary evidence, we do not find references in to Samhain as the new year at all. In an extract from the Book of Ballymote, provided by Douglas Hyde in 1899, King Cormac instructs his son Cairbré about 'Saman's Day', and if ever there was an opportunity to mention that Samhain was New Year, which would be of quite great importance, we would expect to have found it there, but we do not. Likewise, in a tale featuring Finn on the night of Samhain provided by PW Joyce in his 1903 work, Samhain is a night where demons roam the land, and again no mention of a new year is alluded to.

The only poetry that could in any way be viewed as implying that the year began at Samhain is Emer's listing of the seasons, quite similar to the 'Rathaí firinneacha na bliana', above. In Tochmarc Emer, (Kuno Meyer translation) she and Cú Chulaind, are in poetic converstion,

"No one comes to this plain," said she, "who does not meet Benn Suain, the son of Roscmelc, from summer's end to the beginning of spring, from the beginning of spring to May-day, from May-day to the beginning of winter."

Cú Chulaind explains to Loeg the meaning of that, as follows,

"Bend Suain, son of Rosc Mele, which she said this is the same thing, viz., that I shall fight without harm to myself from Samuin, i.e., the end of summer. For two divisions were formerly on the year, viz., summer from Beltaine (the first of May), and winter from Samuin to Beltaine. Or sainfuin, viz., suain (sounds), for it is then that gentle voices sound, viz., sám-son 'gentle sound'. To Oimolc, i.e., the beginning of spring, viz., different (ime) is its wet (folc), viz the wet of spring, and the wet of winter. Or, oi-melc, viz., oi, in the language of poetry, is a name for sheep, whence oibá (sheep's death) is named, ut dicitur coinbá (dog's death), echbá (horse's death), duineba (men's death), as bath is a name for 'death'. Oi-melc, then, is the time in which the sheep come out and are milked, whence oisc (a ewe), i.e., oisc viz., barren sheep. To Beldine, i.e. Beltine, viz., a favouring fire. For the druids used to make two fires with great incantations, and to drive the cattle between them against the plagues, every year. Or to Beldin, viz., Bel the name of an idol. At that time the young of every neat were placed in the possession of Bel. Beldine, then Beltine. To Brón Trogaill, i.e. Lammas-day, viz., the beginning of autumn; for it is then the earth is afflicted, viz., the earth under fruit. Trogam is a name for 'earth.'"

Note that Cú Chulaind mentions Beltaine before Samhain, where he says "two divisions were formerly on the year, viz., summer from Beltaine (the first of May), and winter from Samuin to Beltaine."

For clear and direct references to the structure of the Celtic year, we have at hand from the 16th Century the Fennian tale 'Tóraigheacht an Ghiolla Dheacair: The pursuit of the Giolla Dacker and his horse', where a summer beginning is explicitly recorded: "the Fena ...divided the year into two parts. During the first half, namely, from Bealtaine to Samhain, they hunted ... and during the second half, namely from Samhain to Bealtaine, they lived in the mansions...during the winter half of the year". Thus not only do we find many references to 'beginnings' in Celtic literature, but also a direct statement that Beltaine marked the beginning of the year. P.W.Joyce recorded this in 1907 and is is widely available today through publication of 'Old Celtic Romances' by the Folkloric Society (which is published on-line).

In The Expedition of Dathi, (see Fire Feasts section) presented by Eugene O'Curry (1796-1862) in his 1855 and 1856 'Lectures on the manuscript materials of ancient Irish history delivered at the Catholic University of Ireland', published in 1861, we find references to Druidic practices in Ireland at Samhain, often quoted as further evidence for Samhain being the Celtic new year ("I wish", said [Dathi] the king [to Doghra, chief Druid], "to know my destiny, and that of my country, from this night till this night twelvemonths"). Dathi was travelling through Ireland at the time and this event needs to be considered in relation to King Dathi's gathering at Tara at Beltaine upon his return at the end of his circuit, ("a conference with all the great chiefs and leaders of the nation") and the importance attached to this festival ("The feast of Tara this year was solemnized on a scale of splendour never before equalled").

A great deal of confusion has arisen about the reference on the Celtic calendar inscription, called today the 'Coligny Calendar' or the 'Gaulish Calendar', a bronze engraving from 1st century BC Gaul, to an event recorded in the month of Samon, the first of this genuinely Celtic year, termed the 'Trinox Samoni'. Very often, in both academic and New Age publications, this term has been incorrectly translated to "The three nights of Samhain", on the basis of phonetic correspondences with the Old Irish 'trenae samhna'; and the month Samon has been equated with the Irish month of November, Samhain. The month in the 'Coligny calendar' that equates to November is in fact Giammon, which means 'Winter'. This corresponds to the older Irish name for the month of November, Gamain, recorded in Cormac's glossary, a point made by PW Joyce in 1903. Gamain is the exact Irish equivalent of Gaullish Giammon, the seventh month of the Celtic Calendar. The name of the first month, Samon, means 'Summer'. The older Irish 'samo-', meaning summer, is indicated by Henri Herbert in 1934; thus the Trinox Samoni, so often equated with Samhain, is in fact a festival relating to the Celtic summer. Moreover, the original Irish name for the Julian calendar month of May was cet-Samhin (Cètemain) (see PB Ellis, 1998) - 'first month of Summer'. Thus here we have the continuation of the Gaullish term Samon as Irish Samhin, coinciding with the Celtic feast of Beltaine. See The Celtic Calendar on this website for further information, and to find the Celtic calendar attested to in Classical literature by the ancient sources in the first centuries BC and AD, namely Pliny the Elder, Diodorus, Caesar and Plutarch.

A summer beginning for the year throughout the Celtic world is consistent with the importance of King Dathi's gathering of the nation at Tara, of Henri Herbert's observation that "Beltane commemorated the landing of the first invaders of Ireland, the sons of Partholan; the first fire, that of Uisnech, was lit by their last successors", that the Beltaine fires in Scotland were considered to be "the most considerable of the Druidic festivals", and that young heroes of Celtic myth, such as Pryderi, were born on May Day. Beltaine was also the day on which Finn gained inspiration after eating of the Salmon of Knowledge, "Welcome to noble summer: it abates the bitterness of storm", and when Taliesin was discovered. It is in these events and exaltations that the true beginning of the Celtic year is to be found.

It is hoped that the presentation here of some rather inaccessible, and some more readily available, writings concerning the Celtic year will be of interest for all, and that a critical eye may be cast upon the strengths of the nineteenth century evidence that has led to the current orthodoxy. Samhain is widely reported today as the Celtic new year, "but it doesn't really matter if you come across 100 otherwise reliable authors all saying that Samhain marks the beginning of the year if every one of them got that idea from the same source (or works that got it from that source, etc.). What matters is how reliable that common source is. If that source is flawed, then all those 100 authors have based their conclusions on a flawed source and so their conclusions are flawed". This last quote was provided in 2002 on a discussion of this matter on the then vibrant soc.culture.celtic, and it remains as important today as it did then, and it is quoted with thanks.

"God knew how fitting the tender start of the growth of May would be/
Great is the dignity of bright green May, godson of the Immaculate Lord/
the coming of May is a blessing for me. God and Mary decided wisely and steadfastly to uphold May."
These words were written of the start of the Celtic summer by Dafydd ap Gwilym in the mid fourteenth century and remain a powerful reminder of the importance of the season to Celts into the medieval period.

First published 2002, updated 2006, supplemented 2007; 'The true seasons' and Tochmarc Emer material added March 2008.