Samhain 2026 ritual checklist: 31 October, step by step

Samhain falls on Saturday 31 October 2026, which is generous: a weekend night for a night that is about slowing down. This is a practical checklist you can follow from the week before to the morning after, with enough background to make sense of why each step is there. Take what you need and leave the rest — Samhain asks for sincerity, not a full set of props.

What Samhain is

Samhain is a Gaelic festival, historically held from sundown on 31 October, that marked the end of the harvest and the beginning of the dark half of the year. In the old Irish and Scottish tradition it was a threshold time: livestock were brought down from summer pastures, bonfires were lit, feasts were held, and the dead were thought to be nearer than usual. Halloween is its descendant, folded together with the Christian feasts of All Saints (1 November) and All Souls (2 November).

The version practised in modern witchcraft and paganism is a revival. It sits at one point of the “Wheel of the Year”, a cycle of eight festivals popularised in the twentieth century, and it is often called the witches’ new year. It’s worth being honest about that: the details of the ancient festival are only partly recorded, and most rituals today are modern ones that draw on the old themes. That does not make them empty. It makes them yours to shape. You can read the Vesperine’s own page on it at Samhain in the sabbat library.

The astronomical halfway point between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice falls later, around 7 November, when the sun reaches 15° Scorpio. Most people keep the date by the calendar, not the sun.

The sky on 31 October 2026

• The moon is waning gibbous, roughly two-thirds lit, moving through Cancer. Cancer is the sign the tradition ties to family, home and ancestry, which suits the night. The moon reaches its last quarter a day or so later.
• Mercury is retrograde in Scorpio, from 24 October to 14 November. Scorpio is the sign of death, inheritance and what is hidden. Astrologers read that as a good season for revisiting the past rather than launching anything new. There is more in what Mercury retrograde actually means.
• The sun is in late Scorpio, eight days after it entered the sign on 23 October.

You do not need any of this for the ritual. It’s there if you like your night to have a sky.

The checklist

One week before (24–30 October)

• Decide who you’re remembering. Make a short list: people, pets, versions of yourself, things that ended this year.
• Pick a place. A shelf, a table, a windowsill, the corner of a desk. It does not need to be large.
• Gather or print photographs, or small objects that belonged to them.
• Shop for the meal: a few things, not a feast. See the next section.
• Clear the space. Dust it, wipe it, take things off it.
• If you plan to burn herbs, check for allergies, pets and anyone pregnant in the house before you do.

What to gather

• Candles. One for each person you are remembering, plus one for yourself. Black, white or orange are traditional, but any colour works. Tea lights are cheaper and safer.
• Photographs or objects. Real ones: a ring, a recipe card, a mug.
• Food and drink. Something they liked. Bread, apples, pomegranate, soup, wine or tea. The apple is the traditional fruit of the season.
• Herbs, if you use them. Rosemary for remembrance is safe and pleasant to keep on the altar. Mugwort is traditional for divination and dreams, but is an irritant and should be avoided in pregnancy; don’t drink it, and burn it only with ventilation.
• A stone, if you like. Obsidian is the traditional dark-mirror stone of the season.
• Paper and pen. For names and for the release step.
• A deck of cards, if you read. Or none at all.
• A heatproof dish and a lighter. And, honestly, a glass of water nearby.

The day itself (31 October)

1. Set the altar in daylight. Photographs at the back, candles in front, a small plate of food at the front. Put out a glass of water or a drink.
2. Take the phone out of the room, or at least face-down. This is the one night to be unreachable.
3. Eat lightly beforehand. You’ll share a meal later.
4. Wait for dusk. The old festival began at sundown, so the evening is the right time even if you have been busy all day.

The ritual (about 30–40 minutes)

1. Light the candles, one by one, and say a name for each. “This is for my grandmother.” You do not need anything longer than that. Pause between each.
2. The dumb supper. Sit at the table with a plate set for each person you’re remembering, or a single shared plate if the table is small. Serve the food. Eat in silence, or with only the sound of the candles. Let yourself think about them. If tears come, they are the point.
3. Speak, once. When you are finished eating, say what you want them to know: what you remember, what you are sorry for, what you have kept. A line is enough.
4. Optional divination. Draw three cards as a simple ancestor spread: my roots, what I carry from them, what I am ready to release. Cards worth watching for are Death, Judgement and The Hermit, but any card can speak at this time of year. Treat what comes as reflection, not instruction.
5. Release one thing. On a slip of paper write one thing you want to leave in the old year — a habit, a grudge, a fear. Burn it safely in the dish, or tear it up and put it in the bin. Many people find the physical act matters more than expected.
6. Thank them and close. Say a short thanks, blow out the candles in the order you lit them, and leave the food out until morning, where it’s safe to, as an offering you can return to the earth. Do not leave it where pets can reach anything harmful.

After (1 November onward)

• Put the leftover food in the garden or a compost bin, or bury it, rather than the kitchen trash.
• Wash the plates and dishes, and put the altar away or leave it up until the new moon on 9 November.
• Write down what you remembered and what the cards said, while it is fresh.
• Tell someone about it. Samhain doesn’t have to be done alone.
• Be gentle for a couple of days. A grief ritual can bring grief up.

If you are short on time, space or money

• Ten minutes: one candle, one photograph, one cup of tea, one spoken name.
• A shared house: a shelf and a tea light is an altar. Nobody needs to know.
• No photographs: write names on paper instead.
• Grieving someone recently: do the smallest version. Samhain will return next year.

Safety, plainly

Never leave a flame unattended, keep candles away from curtains, pets and paper, and have water close. If you are working with herbs or incense, ventilate. If grief or low mood is heavy rather than tender, please reach out to a person — a friend, a doctor or a crisis line — not just a ritual. For the harder end of loss, our Three of Swords guide is a gentle companion.

Why this works

Whether or not the veil thins, the practice does something real. It gives you a night to say names aloud, sit with your dead and decide what to carry into the winter. Most cultures have some version of that, and most of us have lost the habit. Samhain is the invitation to start again, and a table, a candle and a name are enough.