Samhain is Pronounced Sah-wen

Moxie says, "Halloween is tomorrow, and if you're of a curious disposition, you may wonder why in the name of God we celebrate a holiday that seems to be an excuse to eat candy that comes from strangers and may or may not have razor blades in it. Well, it's really in the name of God that Halloween was originally created. Samhain was the ancient Celtic harvest festival, but when the Catholic church came to the British Isles, they were like, 'No, you heathens, you may no longer celebrate your pagan holidays. Instead, you can celebrate All Saints' Day and Christmas and Easter!'. All Saints' Day was November first (originally March thirteenth) and All Souls' Day was November second. All Souls' Day was a day to pray for the souls of the deceased. People would go house to house, offering to pray for the souls of dead family members in exchange for food, specifically soull cakes, which sound delicious but I doubt that I'd be capable of baking them. Going a-souling, as it was called, is the likely origin of trick-or-treating. The name Halloween comes from a series of contractions: the eve of All Souls' Day was All Hallows' Eve, then Hallows' Eve, then Hallow'e'e[n]...I guess? Man, that looks weird written down. We carve pumpkins for Halloween because the Irish would carve turnips into lanterns (there's some story there). Then, with the mass emigration of the Irish to the New World, they discovered pumpkins. Far better than turnips. And then! and then there is a lapse in my historical knowledge. Go check out howstuffworks.com."