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| Cover of the seventh Cologne edition of the Malleus Maleficarum, 1520. |
Take a look out your window this weekend and I bet you鈥檒l spot a witch. Fortunately, curses over the next few days can probably be warded off with candy. But the sugar-oriented goals of the Halloween witch set belie the long and sordid history of broomsticks and spells. Always keen to dig into the long and sordid history of anything, I paid an All Hallows visit to a couple Dal professors for the inside scoop on what鈥檚 beneath the pointy hat.
Kathryn Morris, who teaches , says no one鈥檚 certain of the origins of the Halloween witch.
鈥淭here is a great deal of scholarly controversy about the sources of this new idea of witchcraft鈥� whether it emerged from the learned elite or鈥� from folk beliefs,鈥� she says. 鈥淭he idea that stories of witchcraft were based on the actual activities of a pagan fertility cult has been widely discredited.鈥�
Chris Helland refers me to an anthropological archetype referred to as the 鈥渘ightmare witch鈥� -- a nasty lady about as far from Hermione Granger as Kansas is from Oz. Like her mythical counterparts, the revenant (i.e. Edward) and therianthrope (i.e. Jacob), the nightmare witch is a figure found in legend and superstition worldwide.
鈥淒ifferent cultures have sort of different versions鈥� for the most part it鈥檚 female,鈥� says Dr. Helland, who teaches . The figure鈥檚 femininity is unusual 鈥� revenants, for instance, are usually associated with males. 鈥淎 lot of the time it鈥檚 a Death and the Maiden kind of thing.鈥�
Broomsticks
But in the case of the nightmare witch, Death IS the maiden. And, according to Dr. Morris, she鈥檚 been accessorizing the same way for a very long time. 鈥淓arly modern witches did indeed fly on broomsticks,鈥� Dr. Morris says of the myths, 鈥淭hough they sometimes used other modes of transportation.鈥� The broomstick鈥檚 Freudian significance enhanced its popularity. 鈥淚t was a nifty phallic symbol.鈥�
And what did witches do when not creating innovative green transportation? 鈥淚t was widely believed that they killed and ate babies and (at the witches' sabbaths) engaged in orgiastic sex with Satan and each other,鈥� says Dr. Morris. Bet any Halloween party you鈥檝e ever been to sounds pretty tame by comparison. Beyond that, witches spent their time being as thoroughly disagreeable as possible. 鈥淭hey were accused of causing bad weather, crop failures, miscarriage, impotence, illness and death.鈥�
The modern mind boggles at the idea that people believed their neighbours were calling up hurricanes and engaging in supernatural cow-tipping. But it鈥檚 true. 鈥淭he belief in diabolical witchcraft is hard for us to understand, but it was widespread鈥� and deadly serious,鈥� says Dr. Morris. 鈥淭he belief that Christian society was being threatened by an army of witches was (of course) one of the reasons why the great witch-hunts occurred.鈥�
The witch-hunts, Dr. Helland tells me, were spurred on by the Malleus Maleficarium 鈥� the Witches鈥� Hammer. The text, written by two monks in the 15th century, was a medieval how-to for exterminating witches. I鈥檒l spare you the details, but its gruesome methods for determining a witch鈥檚 guilt have nothing to do with weighing the same as a duck. 鈥淚f you read the Malleus Maleficarum, these people believed what they were talking about,鈥� says Dr. Helland. 鈥淚t鈥檚 horrific in a way, but I think they really believed that it was true.鈥�
Those persecuted for witchcraft were usually female. 鈥淭he concept of the nightmare witch is, it鈥檚 the opposite of everything that鈥檚 good,鈥� says Dr. Helland. 鈥淚n a patriarchal society, women in positions of power are going to fit into the image of the witch.鈥�
Sabrina
Fortunately for herbalists, midwives, and cat ladies everywhere, Dr. Morris says that 鈥渢he witch-hunts went into a sharp decline in the period from 1650 to 1750, although there were certainly isolated cases after that鈥� as the witch became less scary, she began to appear in stories and children's literature. It's a process of taming or domestication that we seem to repeat every Halloween.鈥�
But the eradication of belief in witches and magic isn鈥檛 universal. 鈥淪till in Africa a lot of people are killed every year for witchcraft,鈥� says Dr. Helland. And in North America, friends and neighbours might be casting benign spells 鈥� without even knowing they鈥檙e doing it. 鈥淏aseball magic鈥� (look at) sports. People trying to use supernatural mechanisms to improve their performance.鈥� Dr. Helland is careful to point out that modern pagans and workers of magical ritual have nothing to do with the 鈥渘ightmare witch鈥� archetypes. 鈥淚t鈥檚 very common in a lot of cultures for someone to have a job as a sorcerer,鈥� he says, and also adds that 鈥渢he concept of the nightmare witch has nothing to do with people who practice Wicca.鈥�
Looking back on the Witches鈥� Hammer and the nightmare witch, it鈥檚 hard to believe that our culture鈥檚 deepest fears are now its most adorable Halloween costumes. As Dr. Morris puts it, 鈥淚t's kind of crazy that we dress our children up as Satan-worshiping baby-eaters!鈥�
Eat some candy corny and be thankful that Sabrina, the Teenage Witch is getting a good education at Riverdale High.