Samhain Pronounced "Sow-in", or "Sah-vin" if you speak Scots Gaelic.
Ancient Celts considered a day to begin with sundown, so the year begins with the first day of Winter.
This eve of the Celtic year was a very holy time when barriers between the worlds of life and death are thinnest, allowing the ancestors to walk among the living, welcomed and feasted by their kin, giving blessings.
Celts put out food and drink for dead ancestors with great ceremony.
They left their windows, doors, and gates unlocked to allow spirits free passage into their homes.
Not all of these spirits were friendly, so Celts carved the images of spirit-guardians onto turnips, and set these jack o'lanterns by their doors for protection.
Later this custom changed to using pumpkins.
Black cats are thought to be particularly magical.
This is a time to use divination to gain guidance for the future, and to honor the dead.
Carlin (Black cat/Celtic Goddess/Halloween) was the spirit of the eve of Samhain (Halloween), the night the year turned to winter, and the ghosts of the dead roamed the world of the living.
Related to the ”Cailleach”, from the old Irish caillech, or “the veiled one”, the Goddess of Winter, who is reborn October 31 (Samhain). She controlled the seasons and weather; the goddess of earth and sky, moon and sun. In Scotland a black cat on your porch is a sign of prosperity. In Finland legend, they carry the souls of the dead to the other world. In legend, witches often have black cats as their familiars.