Samhain is the Celtic New Year, which is the time of the final harvest of the year. On the Wheel of the Year, we are at the threshold of both the end of the energetic year and the beginning of the next. This time is the final exhale of the land's offering before it rests for the winter. 
Samhain (pronounced sow-in) is the portal of death that releases the old year to alchemize the birth of the new. Samhain marks the dusk of the year as the full expression of the darkness with a period of release, transmutation, and rest.