The days are counting down to Halloween! Today I’m bringing you a post on the basics of Halloween in the Other People’s practice. Before we get into that, though, I have some site updates.
We now have a Calendar page, which will list all the current and upcoming holidays in the Otherfaith. You can also find our pages on Hell Month and Halloween through this tab.
Forums are enabled on our website. Feel free to sign up and contribute! Blogs will be auto-posted into the forums. Comments will be turned off on future blog posts and you’re encouraged to comment over in the forums instead.
We also have a Reddit community. If you use Reddit you can go over to r/Otherfaith and post any Otherfaith related content you want. Art posts and inspiration are welcome.
Let’s dig into Halloween.
What is Halloween (in the Otherfaith)?
Halloween is a joyful celebration for the Other People, a fall festival full of fun, candy, and pranks. The secular associations of the holiday are clear in the Otherfaith observance of the day.
Halloween is the last hurrah for the flower and fauna spirits that we welcomed in spring, specifically the Flower Maidens and Rabbit Troupe. Mirroring the Awakening of Flowers and Rabbits at the end of March, Halloween ends with a violent riot from the spirits of fertility and blooms. They streak through the City streets in the Westernlands, tearing apart and slaughtering any they come across. The next morning every victim is reborn exactly as they were before the bloodbath. The riots of the Flowers and Rabbits becomes euphoric and ecstatic rather than terrifying, leading to high participation among the spirits.
Halloween is a time of fun horrors and creepy experiences that we regale in the dark around campfires to see who scares easiest. It is foremost about the joy that can be found in the dark. Other People can spend the night engaging in traditional trick-or-treating, marathoning horror movies, or visiting haunted houses in their area. They might also use the night to reflect on the fear we find in the dark and attempt to embrace it.
Intersecting Holy Days
| Date | Event | Information |
|---|---|---|
| October 13 | Friday the 13th (when applicable) | The Other People observe every Friday the 13th and associate it with a specific spirit. October's Friday the 13th does not currently have a spirit tied to it. |
| October 31 | Samhain | A Pagan festival, typically honoring the dead and ancestors. Part of the 'Wheel of the Year' in Pagan practice. |
Gods Honored
The main god associated with Halloween is the Liathane, the god of chaos and horror. Being a god of terror and all creepy unpleasant feelings, the Liathane is a perfect fit for the night. The god abandons his more malevolent aspects to take on the mantle of tricks and pranks. He creeps up on us and shrieks, his face a terrifying visage, before wiping it away and laughing. His humorous horror is not for every soul, but he attempts to get us to enjoy the spirit of the day.
As mentioned above, the Flower Maidens and Rabbit Troupe are important to the holiday as well. Each of these groups is tied to fertility and greenery, specifically blooms, and their Final Riot also symbolizes the shift into fall that occurs in the northern hemisphere. Their energies retreat into the background of our lives until springtime strikes again.
Main Story of Holiday
- Having spent all year helping the plants bloom and reproduce, the Flower Maidens began to wane and fade. Similarly, the Rabbit Troupe has become to grow tired from their constant revelries.
- Knowing they will not be able to keep up their duties throughout the winter, Alynah Blake and the leaders of the Flower Maidens decide to throw one last bloody celebration.
- The fall is a popular time for other festivities, however, and the Clarene is hesitant to approve of such a widespread slaughter when many of her people will be in the streets. She decides to cast a blessing on the night that everyone who perishes on Halloween might be reborn the next morning as they were before.
- the Dierne knows many of their spirits enjoy partying on the night as well though,and he wishes to avoid any unnecessary suffering. He blesses all caught up in the slaughter to feel pleasure rather than pain.
- The Fower Maiden and Rabbits grumble at this development. Their hedonistic orgies of blood and gore have been tamed, declawed so effectively as to be pointless.
- the Liathane intercedes. He decrees that as much pleasure the Dierne brings, fear will thread through the hearts of all present. He will touch their prey with his own brand and let the Flowers and Rabbits eat on that instead.
- But, he warns the troupes, if they try to feast on someone without his brand, the Liathane will come down and feast on the Flower and Rabbits instead.
Activities for Holiday
Prayer
We currently do not have prayers for Halloween.
Writing
Other People may choose to write various mythic fanfic during this time. Stories written for Halloween don’t have to focus on the themes of the day, but it is a good time to get into a spooky mood.
Some prompts for this time are:
- The Flower Maidens and Rabbit Troupe lead their Final Riot on Halloween. What leads them to lead riots and bloodbaths through the West’s City?
- What other festivities occur during this time? (Either for Otherfaith spirits or in other religious traditions.) How do they connect or differ from the Other People’s interpretation of Halloween?
- the Liathane regularly shapeshifts into frightening creatures to scare the spirits in the West. What would he shapeshift into to give the other gods a fright?
Contemplative
Any topics related to fear, horror, adrenaline, and fun are good contemplation focuses for this holiday. An Other Person might also choose to focus on more somber topics or contemplate their own fears and anxieties.
As aids to contemplation, prompts are listed below.
- What kind of fear do you find enjoyable? What kind of scares do you not enjoy? What differentiates them?
- What sort of violence is accepted in the Other People’s Western Fairyland?
- Why do we find ‘fear’ fun? Would the Four+ Gods, outside of the Liathane, find it fun as well?
- In the Halloween myth, everyone who falls victim to the Flowers and Rabbits is reborn perfectly the next morning. Are there times in life where we get times to indulge without consequence, or do we never get a perfectly new morning like in the story?
Miscellaneous
Other People may decide to go trick-or-treating and dress up in costumes, as is common in the United States. Those wanting to do something for the wider community could help run a haunted house, collect food all October and donate it to a food bank or specific family at the end of October, or host trick-or-treating events for children in their local area.
You can always find this information on its permanent page here.