Changes

In modern Gaelic, ''Samhain'' refers primarily to the month of November.<ref>Mark, Colin, ''The Gaelic–English Dictionary'' (2003).</ref> For the pre-Christian Celts, Samhain was the most important date of the year. Little is known of the pagan festival. Sources on Samhain conflict on many points, including what time of year the festival was.  

In modern Gaelic, ''Samhain'' refers primarily to the month of November.<ref>Mark, Colin, ''The Gaelic–English Dictionary'' (2003).</ref> For the pre-Christian Celts, Samhain was the most important date of the year. Little is known of the pagan festival. Sources on Samhain conflict on many points, including what time of year the festival was.  

The festival marked "summer's end," according to the eleventh century tale "The Sick-Bed of Cu Chulainn." From this story, it seems that Samhain started life as a basic harvest festival:

The eleventh century Irish tale "The Sick-Bed of Cu Chulainn" portrays Samhain as a harvest festival held at "summer's end":  

{{cquote|[The young men of Ulster] used to keep that festival every year; nor was there anything in the world that they would do at that time except sports, and marketings, and splendours, and pomps, and feasting and eating; and it is from that custom of theirs that the Festival of the Samhain has descended, that is now held throughout the whole of Ireland.<ref>"[http://www.luminarium.org/mythology/ireland/cuchulainnsick.htm The Sick-Bed of Cu Chulainn]"<br/>While others partied, Ulster hero Cuchulainn was on his sick bed receiving an extended vision of the magical land "Mag Mell, the Plain of Delight."</ref>}}

{{cquote|[The young men of Ulster] used to keep that festival every year; nor was there anything in the world that they would do at that time except sports, and marketings, and splendours, and pomps, and feasting and eating; and it is from that custom of theirs that the Festival of the Samhain has descended, that is now held throughout the whole of Ireland.<ref>"[http://www.luminarium.org/mythology/ireland/cuchulainnsick.htm The Sick-Bed of Cu Chulainn]"<br/>While others partied, Ulster hero Cuchulainn was on his sick bed receiving an extended vision of the magical land "Mag Mell, the Plain of Delight."</ref>}}