What would the Celts do to make their homes undisirable to lost spirits on October 31?

Answer 1

Probably dressed up to scare away the spirits?

Answer 2

In Celtic cultures, October 31-November 1 was a festival called Samhain, which much later (combined with the Christian "All Saints Day") evolved into what we know as Halloween. The festival celebrated the transition between the "light" half of the year into the "dark" half of the year at the end of the harvest, and many aspects of it had to do with the dead.

The Celts believed that during this period of time, the boundary between the living world and the underworld was thinner, so the spirits of the dead could communicate and walk around in the living world. Some, who didn't want contact with the dead, would extinguish their hearths to make their homes cold (and therefore undesirable) to the spirits.

Many present-day Halloween traditions evolved from the Celts' rituals during Samhain. Many would walk around wearing costumes and masks to frighten the spirits (which evolved into the Halloween custom of dressing in costume). They also often hollowed out turnips and carved faces on them, both to make lanterns and to ward off the spirits (pumpkins are more common today).

Answer 3

They would go "headhunting." This included going across the countryside picking turnip heads which symbolized all the wisdom and spirit inside a normal head. They would then nail this to their door to ward away spirits.

Answer 4

a scary thing