Samhain 2026: The Date, the Sky and a Gentle Fortnight Ritual

Samhain 2026 falls on Saturday 31 October: the date, the sky and a gentle fortnight to keep it

Samhain 2026 arrives on a Saturday night, five nights after the Hunter’s Moon and a week after the clocks go back. Here is everything that is particular to this year: the dates and times, what the Moon is doing, and a simple way to keep Samhain across the whole dark fortnight rather than a single evening.

When is Samhain 2026?

Samhain 2026 is kept on the evening of Saturday 31 October and through Sunday 1 November. The old Gaelic year counted its days from dusk, so the festival begins as the light goes on the 31st rather than at midnight. That makes Saturday evening the heart of it, with Sunday as a slow, quiet day after.

Some people prefer to mark the astronomical midpoint between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice instead. In 2026 the Sun reaches 15 degrees of Scorpio, the exact halfway point, on Saturday 7 November. Neither date is more correct than the other. The fixed date of 31 October is the one the old calendars and the Irish stories use, and the astronomical date suits anyone who likes to follow the sky. This year they fall exactly a week apart, both on a Saturday, which gives a natural fortnight to work with.

If you would like the full background to the festival, the meaning of the word and how to pronounce it, our evergreen guide to the Samhain meaning and its honest history covers it in depth. This post stays with what is particular to Samhain 2026.

This year the dark half of the year begins on a weekend, under a waning Moon, with an hour of evening already handed back to the night.

The sky around Samhain 2026

The fortnight opens on Sunday 25 October, when the clocks go back at 2am and the evenings close in an hour earlier. It is worth noticing how that first dark evening feels in the body. For many of us it is the moment the year turns, more than any date on a calendar.

The next morning, at 4.12am on Monday 26 October, the Hunter’s Moon is full in Taurus. Taurus is the steady earth sign that asks what we value and want to keep. Our guide to the Hunter’s Moon 2026 has a ritual for that night if you would like to begin there.

By Samhain eve the Moon is waning and a little over half lit, moving through Cancer. Cancer is the sign of home, family and the people who came before us, which sits beautifully with a night given to remembering. A waning Moon is the classic time for releasing and clearing, so Samhain 2026 leans towards letting go rather than starting anything new.

The Moon reaches its last quarter at 8.28pm on Sunday 1 November, the half lit point that marks the final stretch of the cycle. Then, after astronomical Samhain on Saturday 7 November, the New Moon in Scorpio arrives at 7.02am on Monday 9 November. Our New Moon in Scorpio 2026 guide picks up the thread there, with intentions for the dark months ahead.

There is a numerology note too. 2026 adds to 10, which reduces to 1, the number of beginnings. Samhain in a 1 year makes a clean doorway: close the old chapter honestly, and the new one has room.

Keeping Samhain 2026 across the fortnight

Because Samhain 2026 and its astronomical twin sit a week apart, there is no need to fit everything into one night. Here is a gentle shape for the fortnight. Every step works through sound, breath and touch, so it suits anyone, including those of us who work by feel and sound rather than inner images.

Sunday 25 October: notice the dark

On the first evening after the clocks change, sit for ten minutes as the light goes, without switching on a lamp. Let your breath slow. Notice where in the body you feel the change of season. Some feel it in the shoulders, some in the belly. Say quietly, “The dark half of the year is coming.” That is enough.

Monday 26 to Friday 30 October: clear and gather

Use the days after the Hunter’s Moon to clear the space where your altar will sit. Wipe the surface, open a window and ring a bell or tap a bowl once in each corner of the room, listening for the moment the sound fades. Gather what you will use on Saturday: a candle, a cloth, your stones and something that belonged to, or reminds you of, the people you want to remember.

Saturday 31 October: Samhain eve

As the light goes, lay your cloth and set out the stones, with obsidian at the centre and the others around it. Light the candle. Strike a chime or bell once and stay with the sound until it has gone completely. In that silence, say the names of those you are remembering, one at a time, aloud. After each name, rest a hand on your chest and take one slow breath.

When the names are said, hold a piece of smoky quartz or Whitby jet in your palm and speak aloud one thing you are ready to put down this year. Place the stone back on the cloth as a way of setting the words down with it. Finish with a second ring of the bell and sit until the candle has burned a little way, then put it out.

Sunday 1 November: the quiet day

The old Samhain ran from dusk to dusk, so Sunday belongs to the festival too. Take a slow walk if you can, and listen rather than look: the sound of leaves underfoot, rooks settling, wind in bare branches. At the last quarter Moon at 8.28pm, return to your altar and ring the bell once more.

Saturday 7 to Monday 9 November: the second threshold

On astronomical Samhain, revisit the altar. Notice whether anything has shifted since the 31st. Then, at the New Moon in Scorpio on the morning of Monday 9 November, write one quiet intention for the winter. It closes the fortnight with something planted in the dark, ready to grow when the light returns.

Your Samhain 2026 altar

Everything here is in stock at Mystic Grove for Samhain 2026. You do not need all of it. A cloth, a candle and one dark stone make a full Samhain altar.

The Samhain crystal set

Our Wheel of the Year crystal set in its Samhain version holds seven tumblestones: obsidian for the centre, with black tourmaline, smoky quartz, labradorite, moonstone, carnelian and red jasper around it. It comes with a numbered grid card, and the full layout is in our Samhain crystal grid guide.

Obsidian and smoky quartz

For a larger centrepiece, a black obsidian tower is traditionally linked with clearing and endings, and a smoky quartz tower with grounding and steadiness through grief.

Whitby jet

Whitby jet tumbles carry a long British history as the stone of Victorian mourning jewellery, which makes jet a natural choice for a night of remembering.

The raven and the threshold

A raven skull crystal carving honours the bird long linked in story with the space between worlds, and a black tourmaline merkabah sits well at the edge of the altar as a guardian of the threshold.

Candles, cloth and burner

A protection crystal candle or a black chime candle for the evening, an esoteric fringed altar cloth to set it all on, and a cauldron burner to keep the flame safe.

Journal prompts for Samhain 2026

• Who am I remembering this Samhain, and what did they give me that I still carry?
• What has 2026 asked me to let go of, and what am I ready to put down now?
• What do I want to keep, as the Hunter’s Moon in Taurus asked, and what is quietly finished?
• What one small thing would I like to begin in the dark, at the New Moon on 9 November?

Dates and times in this post are UK time and were checked against the Royal Observatory Greenwich full moon calendar for 2026 and the official UK clock change dates.