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In old Europe, Halloween was just the start of the spooky season: a month of remembrance of the departed, of the waning of the sun when spirits good and bad haunted the barren earth. The changing season, shortening days and fading autumn colors all contribute to the general spookiness preceding the advent of solstice that signals the return of the sun and a new year.
This past weekend, my video feed filled with content about Halloween. Most was easy to scroll by, but one item caught my attention. The person in the video talked about the connection between modern stereotypical depictions of witches and textiles.
A few years ago, I read about the connection between witch iconography (black pointy hats, cauldrons, cats) with beer brewing.
Until the 1500s, brewing and selling beer was women's work in Europe, a way for women to make their own money. To be visible at markets, brewers wore tall pointy hats. They transported their tasty ferments in large pots, and often kept cats for rodent control in their grain stores.
The Reformation, along with tightening gender roles, ended up taking jobs away from women. Lore transformed female brewers into witches brewing potions in cauldrons - the kind of evil spirits who roamed the earth at the year’s waning. It became dangerous for women to continue making and selling drinks.
The video about textiles and witches, inspired me to learn some new interesting tidbits about history and society and witches. Unfortunately, I didn't save the video, and the only specific I remember from it related a spinning distaff - a tool of women’s work - to imagery of witches with broomsticks.
Distaffs are long sticks that hold unspun fiber, which a spinner pulls out and feeds into the spindle. With a bundle of fibers on the end, they indeed look very much like upside-down brooms.
I hoped for some easy research, confirming the video content. Unfortunately, a few internet searches didn't yield much information.
I ended up on a BBC article about witch lore origins, hoping to come across some interesting tidbits. In the section of the article about depictions of witches in art were two examples of etchings by German painter and printmaker Albrecht Dürer, circa 1500.
The second one particularly caught my attention. The description said the etching depicted an old crone riding a goat. She's naked, as are the four cherubs surrounding her. The witch rides the goat backwards, which apparently symbolizes going against nature.
"She is even clutching a broomstick," I read. Looking at the image, I realized that it wasn't a broom but a distaff. I was sure of this because a small spindle wound with thread lay next to the distaff.
I found confirmation on a museum website. It was exciting to find this small connection between witches and textiles.
In the past, I've always thought grown-ups dressing up as witches for Halloween was an easy costume (my favorite kind of costume).
Now, knowing that witch iconography carries a lot of women’s history about our place in society, persecution, beer brewing and textile arts, I have a new fondness for tall pointy black hats, cauldrons and brooms (or better yet, distaffs).
Immersing myself in the continuing spooky mood of the next few weeks as days quickly cool and shorten, I will be brooding about women punished for making their way in this world, while practicing very practical skills; skills I wish I had (turning raw fiber into fabric, turning a few ingredients into good drinks, etc.), which sure can seem like (white) magic.