The origin of witches most probably comes
from the shamans of the Germanic people. They were female, and were called
Wicces in Anglo-Saxon England, and Völvas in Scandinavia. Witches are
usually reputed to fly on broomsticks or distaffs. There is a legend in
Scandinavia about the sorceress Maran who causes pain by riding at night
on people or horses; she flies to her victim by broomstick. Some believe
that supposed visitations of Maran were actually a heart disease, causing
the victim to awake in a panic.
While it is common to classify witches into
one of three categories (white witch, black witch and hedgewitch), this is
not a very accurate grouping as the concepts of good and evil are foreign
to witches. A witch is neither good, nor evil, neither black nor white
because all acts in themselves are relative and cannot therefore be
classified one way or the other.
Before the advent of Christianity, wicces
served as spiritual advisors and healers. This changed with the arrival of
Christianity and the priests who regarded them as competitors. From the
Middle ages and onwards to about the mid-19th century, witches were
universally associated with evil, under the belief that the witch's
magical powers were granted by Satan in exchange for the witch's soul. A
few folk tales, however, refer to kindly witches. Many outrageous claims
were made about the powers of witches, which include the ability to fly,
to transform oneself or others into animals or other shapes, and to curse
one's enemies. On the other hand, all these powers typically belong to
those of the shaman, so these powers were associated with witches long
before the arrival of Christianity.
Naturally, the tradition of female shamans
did not disappear immediately with the arrival of Christianity. The
traditions were maintained, but the church condemned the women who
practiced the ancient shamanism (and consequently elements of the old
religion) as witches, and demonized them. Ultimately the Church tried to
exterminate any women who could be suspected of maintaining the tradition.
When the early settlers came to America, they
brought along their belief in witches. In American the legends
of witches
spread and mixed with the beliefs of others, the Native Americans - who
also believed in witches, and then later with the black magic beliefs of
the African slaves. It was extremely dangerous to be accused of being a
"witch", since a common punishment was to be burnt at the stake. Both in
North America and in Europe, thousands of people (mostly women), were put
to death as witches at various points in history. Some of the worst witchhunts were in Germany, though there are documented cases of torture
and murder in the name of stopping witchcraft in nearly every European
country. Most people who were killed as witches were probably hapless
midwives, herbalists, widows, spinsters, social outcasts, or victims of
revenge seekers. For example, some researchers wholly attribute the Salem
witch trials in 1692 to rivalries between opposing political forces in
Salem, Massachusetts
Today, witches are iconically associated with
Halloween, though Wiccans actually celebrate Samhain. Both dates are the
same, and are at least metaphorically similar in meaning. This is not
coincidence. Christianity had a basic contempt for the supernatural
overtones of the festival. The association between "witches" and Halloween
most certainly came from vilification of practitioners of the Celtic
celebration of the last harvest.