#43 A WOMAN'S BRIEFS -- HALLOWEEN

A WOMAN’S BREIFS – HALLOWEEN  2023

I’m on my way to satisfying curiosity: Why, I wonder, do witches ride brooms? Finding the answer required a bit of a roundabout, and I’m not sure I’m glad I got it. But I’ll start with Halloween. We’ve made witches cute, we Halloweeners of modern times. Not so in the beginning. According to the Celtic calendar, and likely in the 5th century, November 1 marked the beginning of a new year. October 31 was like our New Year’s Eve, a rather rowdy event.

 Well, it wasn’t exactly like ours. October 31st was the night when witches and warlocks were on the loose. The dead of the previous year wandered forth. The laws of nature were suspended. Huge bonfires were lit outside the villages to honor the sun-god and frighten spirits away. Fires in the Celtic homes were extinguished, making the rooms dark and cold, hoping to discourage disembodied spirits from visiting their former homes.

Mischief and pranks got played but still, Celtic families seriously dressed as demons, or hobgoblins, or witches, fearing a departed soul’s need to possess a living person in order to reach a peaceful afterlife. Who wouldn’t try to throw off roving souls by being unappealing? It was pretty scary. You can imagine it, I suppose.

If what I read is right, this celebration seems not so suitable for children. Worse for a good night’s sleep than candies consumed by modern Trick-Or-Treaters. I mean, think about it.

The Christian church did. The Church thought about it. When Christianity landed among the Celts, the festival of Samhain was renamed, repurposed, relieved of its worst fears. As the church did elsewhere in the world, the Christian Irish began honoring rather than fearing the dead. Night of witches became the “Eve of all Hallows.” Hallow being a word for saint. Eve of all saints — Hallow E’en.

That was a very long time ago.

In1840s, Irish immigrants escaping the potato famine brought a cleaned-up version of Hallow E’en to America. Costumes, pranks, mischief arrived — you may have heard the stories of overturned outhouses and unhinging front gates. Even the tradition of a large turnip carved with a demon’s face made the move. There weren’t many turnips found in this new land, but fields of pumpkins kept the tradition alive.

 You can research Trick or Treating, Jack-o-lanterns, and bone-fires (from which we get the word, bonfire). All I really want to know is why witches ride brooms. I’ve learned this—it first had to do with horseshoes.

In the 4th century, the Greeks introduced the horseshoe as a symbol of good luck. Iron wards off evil, they believed.

Then there is the later legend of a blacksmith who recognized the customer who wanted horseshoes attached to his feet — Satan himself! The blacksmith managed to nail Satan to a wall and extracted a promise from the devil never to enter a house with a horseshoe displayed above the door. The smithy later became a bishop. Here’s a popular Irish incantation against evil: “Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Nail the devil to a post.”

 With me still?

 In the Middle Ages, when fear of witches peaked, the horseshoe took on greater power. “It was believed that witches traveled on brooms because they feared horses.” (Panati’s Extraordinary Origins of Everyday Things, page 4)

 Any reminder of a horse, especially its iron shoe, warded off a witch. I like that story. But, closer to truth, less fun, is this explanation from the article, “Why Do Witches Ride Brooms,” by Professor Lisa Wade, PhD.

 “Starting in the 1300s, Europeans developed a taste for hallucinogenic drugs. Unfortunately, ingesting them often caused nausea and vomiting. Absorbing them through the skin came with fewer side effects and delivering them through the mucous membranes of the female genitals was ideal.

“A physician quoted at The Guardian says the claim is medically sound: ‘Ointment would have been very effective as a delivery method… Mucous membranes are particularly good at transporting drugs – that’s why cocaine is snorted… Vaginal application would be pretty efficient, and the effects of the drugs would be noticeable quite rapidly.’

“According to legend, then, witches would coat the handle of a broom — a convenient household item — lift their skirts and get high.

“The women who trafficked in hallucinogenic substances were often accused of being witches. Or, conversely, women accused of being witches were also accused of making magic ointments (from the fat of murdered children, no less). And witch experts in the 15th century claimed that they used these ointments not just to get high, but to get high; that is, that they literally flew using ointments. Hence, witches on brooms.” 

Surely, some things are better left to lore.