you think i jest (and i do jest) but Keeping Away The Motherfucking Fae was the original motivation for a lot of Samhain practices that later got incorporated into Halloween. (with the "fae" in this case being the aos sĂ, a supernatural race that dwell in ancient burial/fairy mounds, and the spirits of the Otherworld in general)
during Samhain (pronounced sow-win), a liminal festival, the boundary between here and the Otherworld gets fucked with, so you best watch yourself by celebrating with:
fire. lots of fire. cleansing and protective fire. communal bonfires, fires inside jack-o-lanterns, torch fire, need-fires summoned ritualistically, lots of fire. it's getting cold and dark out, fire makes a lot of sense right now. oh and hey you know what goes well with fire aka loves to be warm and roasted?
food. lots of food. gotta appease the spirits with food and drink. gotta ward away bad luck (hunger, starvation) in the coming winter by keeping everyone fed. feed everyone! feed the spirits. feed the kids. feed the people going door-to-door. feed the people going door-to-door in case they're spirits. which brings us to:
disguises. every decent festival needs disguises. costumes. whatever. put on a mask or disguise and go door-to-door to receive food and coins (guising). dress up in costumes and perform folk plays (mumming), perhaps taking the opportunity to warn about otherworldly dangers. and hey! if impersonating the spirits of the dead means spooks can't recognize you and whisk you away? so much the better
divination. lots of divination. involving fire, and apples, and nuts (and sometimes stones and bones). yes, this is where apple bobbing comes in! (with origins dating back to roman times.) interestingly divination at Samhain wasn't just to foretell death and misfortune (let's guess which of us won't survive the winter!) but also focused on luck and marriage (who will i marry! how many children will i have! will i be rich! will i be happy!)
also i'm so serious, keep away from the mounds, the (burial) mounds are portals to the Otherworld, those portals are especially open at Samhain, keep away from the motherfucking (fairy) mounds.
in conclusion, winter has arrived and the world is about to get cold, dark, hungry, and scary. so stay warm, put on some lights, eat a bunch of food, dream about the future, and tell spooky stories to entertain each other and keep the ghosts in the flickering shadows where they belong!
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