Black Cats and Magic   michael streich

The black cat as a Halloween symbol can be traced back to the earliest periods of human existence in the Mediterranean and ancient Near East cultures. Cats, however, were not always associated with evil and in some early European cultures black cats were a sign of good luck. American Halloween symbols, however, are more closely identified with the pagan origins of harvest festivals and the coming of winter in the British Isles. Anthropology professor Anthony Aveni, for example, writes that, “The Irish…brought over the habit of celebrating Halloween with huge bonfires to scare away evil spirits…in the form of…black cats…”

 

Cats Associated with European Festivals and Rituals

 

The restoration of colonial American structures frequently reveals the bones of cats in between the original house walls. This practice was common in many European communities and is mentioned by several historians and anthropologists. Entombing cats protected against evil.

 

According to historian Robert Darnton, cats “have a ritual value” and were thought to have occult power. During the Middle Ages, cats were associated with the devil. Historian Jeffrey Burton Russell recounts a story during the Cathar persecution in southern Europe in which members of the sect were allegedly involved in “obscene rites” which prominently featured a black cat.

 

It was commonly believed during the European witch craze that witches could transform themselves into cats and that at their sabbats, they would engage in sexual relations with Satan, who was himself portrayed as either a black dog or a black cat.

 

The Burning of Cats and the Association with the Harvest

 

Both Darnton and anthropologist James Frazer provide dozens of examples of cat burnings, usually associated with carnivalesque rituals, although the burning of cats also coincided with harvest times and the warding off of evil. When the bubonic plague struck London in the 14^th Century, for example, the inhabitants burned cats in great bonfires, believing that the cats had caused the terrible disease.

 

In some European communities, the pagan “corn spirit” was manifested as a cat, prompting farmers to ritualistically torture, kill, and even roast cats at the end of the harvest. Frazer comments that, “The cat, which represented the devil, could never suffer enough.”

 

Cats as the Conduits of Magic and Mystery

 

One reason cats were associated with witchcraft was that witches, transformed as cats, could affect harmful magic, including the casting of spells. Thus, cats were often maimed to prevent their ability to function. Cat blood, when mixed with other liquids, was believed to have healing power. Professor Darnton writes that, “You could make yourself invisible, at least in Brittany, by eating the brain of a newly killed cat, provided it was still hot.”

 

Superstitions that survive in contemporary society include the prohibition to never let a black cat cross one’s path. To do so invites back luck. Halloween, as celebrated in 21^st Century America, depicts the black cat with the witch, reinforcing the notion of magic and evil. Additionally, cats have, for centuries, been identified with mystery. In the Middle Ages, cats were thought to have smothered babies or caused nightmares by reclining on the stomachs of sleeping people.

 

Cats are also associated with the ability to see or sense spirits. In the ancient world, cats, as in Egypt, were closely identified with deities. The Roman goddess Diana was believed to have taken on the form of an animal, including a cat. Thus, the rich history of magic, folklore, and paganism has, over the centuries, left the cat a legacy of mystery, often equated with evil. And that is how Halloween treats the black cat today.

 

Sources:

 

Anthony Aveni, The Book of the Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays (Oxcford University Press, 2003)

Robert Darnton, The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History (Allen Lane/Penguin Books, 1984)

James George Frazer, The Golden Bough: A Study in Magic and Religion (The Macmillan Company, 1966)

Christina Hole, editor, The Encyclopedia of Superstitions (Barnes and Noble Books, 1966)

Jeffrey Burton Russell, A History of Witchcraft: Sorcerers, Heretics, and Pagans (Thames and Hudson, 1980)

 Universal Messages in Autumn and Winter Holidays   michael streich

 Celebrating Halloween and Christmas in the classroom represents a dilemma for many teachers. Some Christians view Halloween as a pagan, demonic holiday and will object to any notions of witches and black cats in a public school classroom. At the other end of the spectrum, critics see the celebration of Halloween as a promotion of Christian teachings that highlight good versus evil within a religious context. Christmas poses an even greater problem since most festivities involve the birth of Christ, which could violate the First Amendment guarantees of separation of church and state. But there are ways to celebrate these holidays with students.

 

Halloween as an Autumn Festival

 

Focusing on Halloween as an autumn festival without the traditional costumes and trappings of a pagan holiday will deflect any criticism from those who might be offended. Activities can include:

 

An emphasis on crop harvesting tied to agricultural festivals such as the first Thanksgiving

A lesson plan on how the change in seasons prepared people for the cold, winter months

Trick or treating as a method of sharing with others that have less than other people

 

For old students in high school, particularly in history, English, or related classes, lesson plans can include:

 

How modern Halloween evolved from a Medieval tradition

The debate regarding the celebration of Halloween

The commercial impact of Halloween

Global celebrations relating to harvest periods

The survival of autumn-related superstitions in the contemporary world

 

The History Channel produced a video/DVD in 1997 called The Haunted History of Halloween. At 50 minutes, the video recounts the origins of Halloween and the impact of the holiday on modern America. Princeton historian Elaine Pagels is one of several commentators offering insightful observations and explanations.

 

The focus on harvest can appropriately include pumpkins, scarecrows, and a horn-of-plenty. Halloween celebrations can also be linked to Thanksgiving.

 

Celebrating Christmas in the Classroom

 

Because American culture has historically been identified with Christianity, all of the traditional symbols tend to focus on the Christian celebration of the birth of Christ, even though the origins of Christmas are as pagan as Halloween.

 

December, however, can highlight the festivals of a variety of traditions, including

 

Christmas

Hanukkah

Kwanzaa

 

Although it falls earlier, even Ramadan can become a part of a global study of giving festivals. Ramadan ends with a feast and includes gift-giving, after a long period of fasting.

 

The symbolism of light is a common feature for festivals that occur in December and January (Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas later). It is even possible to include Chinese New Year, which will be on February 3, 2011. Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights, ends in early November and could also be included. In Germany, St. Martin’s Day is celebrated on November 10. This celebration, associated with children, also focuses on light.

 

Halloween and Christmas Presented as Universal Festivals

 

Presenting Halloween and Christmas within the context of global festivals that represent many traditions and cultures will avoid any criticism of promoting one religious belief over another. Such activities also enhance student understanding of cultural diversity. By incorporating Halloween and Christmas into a global studies unit, students can better see concepts that are universal.

 

 Witches in History and Literature   Michael Streich

 

Witches have always been associated with evil. In the Old Testament, Exodus 22.18 admonishes, “Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live,” although the term “sorceress” is often used instead of witch. Witches had magical powers that could be used for malevolent purposes. According to historian Jeffrey B. Russell, in the Middle Ages, “Heretics, Jews, and witches are among the most prominent of Satan’s human helpers.” Psychology professor Sheldon Cashdan, exploring the impact of fairy tales, writes that, “…the witch lives not only in the pages of a fairy tale but in the deepest reaches of our minds.” No wonder witches figure so prominently in Halloween revelries.

 

The Medieval Witch as a Negative Character

 

Act I, Scene I of William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth begins with three witches. It is fitting that the witches are accompanied by thunder and lightening. When not in gloomy, dark castles like Dorothy’s Witch of the West, they are frequently depicted around a cauldron, predicting death and calamity. “Hover through the fog and filthy air,” Shakespeare’s witches exclaim. The bard knew something of witches; the year the play was written was 1606 and in England the devil was very real theologically as were his helpers.

 

In the early 1600’s, Europe’s witch hunts were still active and both Catholics and Protestants pursued the accused women relentlessly. In his Table Talk the Reformer Martin Luther relates the story of a witch who, at the urging of the devil, caused a loving husband to murder his wife. “You are worse than I am,” the devil remarked. Luther was a product of the Late Middle Ages, equating the activities of witches with the devil, using the analogy of idolatry and Canaanite religious practices in the Old Testament.

 

Catholics also had firm beliefs governing witches and their nefarious ways.  The 1486 Malleus Maleficarum was meticulous in detailing witchcraft and how to deal with witches; it helped to define popular notions of witchcraft well into the next centuries.

 

The Halloween Cat and Historical Witchcraft

 

Witches mimicked Church feast days with unholy celebrations, consorting with Lucifer and flying through the skies. Historian Robert Darnton writes that, “Witches transformed themselves into cats in order to cast spells on their victims.” His study of French social and cultural history demonstrates that cats were always associated with witches and with evil, hence their  prominent role in Halloween celebrations. According to Darnton, “Cats possessed occult power independently of their association with witchcraft and deviltry.”

 

Cats were also associated with sexuality, mating with the devil in wild orgies. In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Young Goodman Brown, written long after the Puritans hung their own witches in 1692, Goodman Brown sees his wife “Faith,” presumably about to be initiated into a coven of witches, many of whom were known to Brown. Frantically he yells to her to look to heaven. He finds himself back in the village.

 

Was it a dream? The implications of sexuality were clear and the marriage was never the same. Witches destroy trust and the most sacred bonds between two people in love, much like the witch in the Luther story above. No wonder the Witches’ Sabbath was a mockery of Christian liturgy: the devil is always the Anti-Christ, the evil facing the good in the cosmological equilibrium of spiritual demeanor.

 

Fairy Tale Witches Across the Cultures

 

Both Darnton and Cashdan place importance on the role of a witch in fairy tales. Whether a hag or an ogress, the witch was determined to destroy youth and innocence. In a traditional Russian fairy tale, the witch – Baba Yaga, is dreadful, with “steel teeth.” But she is defeated by the innocent ingenuity of a child. The same could be said of the Hansel and Gretel story, although the French version of the tale features an ogre. Very often witches were evil stepmothers.

 

The Chronicles of Narnia, written by C.S. Lewis in the mid-20^th Century, feature the “White Witch,” a clever but evil woman who placed Narnia in a type of frozen state but is ultimately killed by Aslan. The fantasy tales have Christian connotations including resurrection and the triumph over evil. Another modern witch is the Wicked Witch of the West, conceived by Frank Baum but popularized in American culture by Margaret Hamilton who played the witch in the MGM classic The Wizard of Oz (1939).

 

Surrender Dorothy!

 

The Wizard of Oz features several witches. The Witch of the East is killed with the arrival of Dorothy; Glenda is the “Good witch of the North.” In the movie, Dorothy is startled, telling Glenda that she thought witches were old and ugly. This is the common, popular view of witches and why witch costumes appear on Halloween. Nobody wants to be a “good witch” like Glenda on Halloween.  

 

Additionally, most witches are female, a conclusion taken from the European witch craze but one with roots in antiquity. Glenda corrects Dorothy and then brings up the issue of broomstick travel. Witches fly through the air. Dorothy, however, must follow the “yellow brick road,” ever cautious of the remaining evil witch who has a travel advantage. Anthropologist Anthony Aveni argues that “…the witches’ broomstick is a negative spin on the maypole…” associated with May Day celebrations, “…the reciprocal in time of Halloween…”

 

Witches in Ancient and Modern Times

 

Tracing the origin of witches at Halloween, Aveni refers to a Babylonian cuneiform text that linked the arrival of “evil ghosts and witches” at certain times of celebration, generally associated with agricultural events like the harvest. Witches, according to the ancient text, use their powers to communicate with the dead. Interestingly, the Old Testament Witch of Endor (I Samuel 28.3-25) was also thought to be able to commune with the dead.

 

The American Halloween witch probably has roots in colonial witchcraft beliefs. When Halloween was eventually transformed into one of the nation’s most colorful and popular holidays, the witch became a staple. In the Disney film Hocus Pocus (1993) Max Dennison (Omri Katz) tells his classmates that “everybody knows” Halloween was “invented by the candy companies.” This, of course, elicits vocal opposition: no interloper from California is allowed to debunk the Halloween magic of Salem, Massachusetts, especially concerning witches.

 

The history of witches is long and colorful. At times tens of thousands lost their lives during witch hunts. Witches are entwined with deeply rooted superstitions and the ability to practice magic. These characteristics probably developed when perceptions of religion and God first impacted mankind, long before the birth of civilization.

 

References:

 

Aveni, Anthony. The Book Of The Year: A Brief History of Our Seasonal Holidays. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003

Cashdan, Sheldon. The Witch Must Die: How Fairy Tales Shape Our Lives. New York: Basic Books, 1999

Darnton, Robert. The Great Cat Massacre and Other Episodes in French Cultural History. London: Allen Lane, 1984

Rogers, Nicholas. Halloween: From Pagan Ritual to Party Night. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002

Russell, Jeffrey Burton. Lucifer: The Devil In The Middle Ages. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1984

The Snow Queen And Other Tales. New York: Golden Press, 1961

Streich, Michael. Martin Luther and the Devil’s Domain: Witchcraft and Magic in the Popular Culture. University of North Carolina at Greensboro, unpublished thesis, 1990

 

Picture By M Streich

 Ostia is outside of Rime, in Pristine condition, rarely crowded, and a better altermative to Pompeii.

For almost six hundred years, the Roman port of Ostia served as the chief conduit of trade between Rome and the rest of the Mediterranean world. According to historian Michael Grant, “Ostia…handled the largest volume of goods of any Mediterranean port except Alexandria.” Ostia’s growth began in the pre-Republican period, emerging in the second century AD as a flourishing commercial city of over 50,000 inhabitants. Today, the ancient ruins demonstrate that Ostia was one of the most diverse cities of the Roman World.

 

The Early Years of Ostia

 

Ostia was founded in the fourth century by the Roman King Ancus Marcius, although Grant attributes the founding to a later king, Servius Tullius. The initial encampment was tied to the exploitation of the salt beds at the mouth of the Tiber. The name Ostia comes from ostium, meaning the river mouth.

 

At the start of the Republic, the Romans established a military colony at Ostia after destroying Ficano and defeating the Etruscans at Veii in 396 BC. The fortress built on the site of the future metropolis was designed to protect against invasion from Greek and Syracusian forces as well as dealing with piracy.

 

Growth and Commercialization of Ostia

 

During the Punic Wars, Ostia served as the chief naval port for Roman fleets. It was from Ostia that Cornelius Scipio sailed with his legions to Spain. With Rome’s victory over Carthage after the Third Punic War, Ostia became the chief element in Rome’s mastery of the Mediterranean, and through its port the many imports so important to the Roman lifestyle and wellbeing would flow.

 

Poor harbor conditions forced the construction of a new port, Portus, not far from the city. Although originally advocated by Julius Caesar, the new facilities were begun during the reign of the Emperor Claudius and eventually fully completed by Trajan and Hadrian. The new port dramatically increased the commercial prospects of Ostia, causing a building spree that could only be described as a miniature Rome. Public buildings, numerous baths, and the building of merchant associations complemented the rows of 4-5 story homes making up the city.

 

V. Santa Maria Scrinari argues that this period, the vibrant second century, defined patterns of urbanization and methods of building that allow contemporary historians and archaeologists the ability to fully appreciate Roman imperial living. Lionel Casson agrees, contrasting the ruins of Pompeii with those of Ostia. While Pompeii represented an agricultural city, Ostia’s characterizations are more far-reaching in terms of imperial urban life.

 

Scrinari states that “the surviving architecture…represents the nearest we come to a typical example of a Roman town.” Contributing to this representation is the rich diversity of people, mostly middle-class, as evidenced by tomb depictions in the Ostia necropolis. Images of various ancient world gods and goddesses attest to the multi-cultural nature of the Ostia community. Ostia even had a sizeable Jewish community.

 

Decline of Ostia

 

Although Ostia’s commercial decline may be linked to third century troubles felt universally through the empire, it was Constantine’s moving the imperial capital to the East that ultimately ended the traffic flowing through the city. In the late 5^th century Vandals sacked Ostia and as Christians began to build great edifices in Rome, the city was plundered of its stone, notably marble. St. Peter’s Basilica contains marble carted from the ruins at Ostia.

 

The great harbor, silted over, lays beneath Leonardo da Vinci Airport at Fiumicino, while only half of the city – 80 acres, have been excavated. Ostia is only 15 miles from Rome and, unlike Pompeii, does not see throngs of tourists. This is a great pity, because Ostia offers a glimpse into a very cosmopolitan Roman past.

 

Sources:

 

Lionel Casson, Everyday Life in Ancient Rome (The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998) see chapter 7.

Michael Grant, History of Rome (Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1978).

Michael Grant, The Ancient Mediterranean (History Book Club, by arrangement with Plume, member of Penguin Putnam, 1969) p 291.

Angelo Pellegrino, Ostia Antica (Rome: Soprintendenza Archeologica di Ostia, 2001).

V. Santa Maria Scrinari, Ancient Ostia (Rome: Vision S.r.l., 1981).