Irish stick fighting, traditional dances feature at Salem’s Gaelic celebration of Samhain

This Saturday, Salem’s Celtic heritage group will celebrate the ancient Gaelic festival that inspired American Halloween traditions, from pumpkin carving to trick or treating, at the Willamette Heritage Center.

Samhain (“sow-in”) is a Gaelic holiday often celebrated as early as Oct. 31 and through Nov. 1 to honor the end of the harvest season and transition into the “dark season,” or winter. 

The Samhain Celtic New Year Festival, put on by Céilí (“kay-lee”) of the…