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Happy (Celtic) New Year!

Halloween is oíche shamhna, Samhain night, New Year's Eve. In that time between the end of the last day of the old year and the first light of the new ghosts may walk, the púca rides the countryside and anything may be abroad!
The púca, or pooka, is said to blight all fruits not harvested by tomorrow morning, making them unedible (you probably don't want to know how he does this, as it involves bodily fluids). But then, all the harvest should be in by now--turf gathered, crops under cover, livestock secured. Winter begins with November 1, after all! And winter starts with a feast...I prefer chocolate, myself!
Oh, and please...if I ask one thing it's that you pronounce it right. The word Samhain is 'SOW-uhn' (rhymes with cow), and NOT 'SAM HAIN'! In Irish 'amha' is 'ow'. Samhain is also the modern name for the month of November, so there's your Irish word of the month.

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Comment by Sceállóg Ó Tacoma on October 31, 2007 at 13:19: Happy Samhain to you as well! Today is the day I wear out my MP3 of the song "Rising of the Moon" by Sean Tyrrell. Now begins the months of darkness, of stories around the bonfire. Speaking of which, Samhain was also the time when the livestock were slaughtered in preparation for preserving the meat for the winter months. During the celebration of Samhain, large fires were built and the bones of the slaughtered livestock were burned, hence the name "bonfire" (bone fire). In come Celtic celebrations, two of these fires were built close together and the people would walk between them, and drive the remaining livestock between them to be cleansed by the smoke for the winter months.

May the Rising of the Moon bring peace and rest to you and yours in the coming dark days.