The four primary dates in the annual solar calendar are known as the quarter points. The halfway point between a solstice and an equinox is known as a cross-quarter point on the celestial calendar. These four cross-quarter points usually fall around Feb 02, May 02, Aug 02, and Nov 02, and form the celestial-calendar bases for the charmingly innocuous modern celebrations of Groundhog Day, May Day, Early Harvest Day, and Halloween. The modern holidays themselves arose from the medieval Christian religious holidays of Candlemas, Roodmas, Lammas, and Hallowmas (Allhallows tide), which were, in turn, Christian reactions to and adaptations of earlier Celtic celebrations of Imbolc, Beltane, Lugnasadh, and Samhain (cross-quarter-point fire festivals). Of the four Celtic cross-quarter-point holidays, Samhain (Halloween) and Imbolc (Groundhog Day) are arguably the two that have retained the most significance in the modern Western world. I suggest that this is primarily because of the existential import of and fear caused by winter, and the relationship of these holidays (in the Northern hemisphere) to the winter season. Furthermore, the character and constitutive elements of each holiday—falling on Nov. 02 and Feb. 02, respectively—are mediated by the holidays' relationship to winter: heading into in the first case and heading out of in the second. This paper argues that Halloween and Groundhog Day—that is, Samhain and Beltane—are the two cross-quarter-point holidays that have retained the most significance in the modern United States. I examine implications of these holidays’ seasonal origins in their resultant mood and character, and I argue that this calendric analysis helps to underscore for us the reality that religions, whether forming or spreading, had to be  relevant to lived experience.