Samain

"Samhain is modern Irish, Samain and Samuin are alternate spellings in Old Irish. ...  Folk etymology derives Old Irish "Samuin" from "sám" + "fhuinn" ("summer" + "end"), but it's more likely to be "assembly, reunion, feast." ...  This is the beginning of Winter, in the Celtic calendar.  This Féis ("Festival") normally falls in early November."

--- from "Holidays Introduction," by Crommán mac Nessa,
http://groups.msn.com/CromansGrove/holidayintro.msnw

Celtic Heathens are not fearful of death, nor is it a terrifying time. Rather it’s a time of celebration, preparation, and planning for the spring. It's also a good time for family and clan bonding, the telling and retelling of old and new tales.

Samhain is not on October 31st, or November 1st. Rather, with the use of solar arithmetic, depending on the earth’s axis position, in relation to the sun, Samhain should fall on November 4th, 5th, 6th, or 7th. However, it more appropriately, falls in late October or Early November based on Solar/Lunar arithmetic. The veil betwixt our world and the land of, what some call the dead, thins for some time, as the three holy nights of Samhain approaches, and the veil thickens after Samhain