It’s not the candy, or the parties, or the cobwebs in people’s bushes. It’s the ugly stereotypes of my faith that get perpetuated, year after year.
Halloween. October 31. Trick or treating, candy, black-and-orange frosted cupcakes, kids in superhero capes, carved pumpkins, grinning skeletons, giant plastic spiders, vampire famgs, zombies, princesses and Dorothies, ghosts, hot masks and too-big shoes, snaggle-tooth witches, white haired hags, books of evil spells, cackles and curses and pointed hats…
Let’s back up a moment.
Ask any given person what they think of when you say Halloween and you’re going to get most of the things on that list and more. Ask what they think of witches and you’re going to get the last few things on that list…and more.
The chances of getting anything positive are almost nil. If you do, it will likely be along the lines of Harry Potter – wands and quidditch and flying on brooms – which are quite benign and appreciated.
But by and large, witches and witchcraft are still the subject of derision and fear, stereotyped into fairytale villains that poison apples and terrorize children, or put love spells on unsuspecting men, or curse or hex anyone who crosses them. They are twisted and warty, or dark and sinister. And by and large, they are portrayed as woman. What’s one of the last acceptable public insults for a woman whose behavior you don’t like? Witch.
Which makes things a bit dicey for some of us who are open about our faith and our beliefs as practicing witches.*
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There’s plenty of blame to go around for this…movies, television, comics, other popular media…but Halloween gets a lot of the credit. Which is why I hate it so much.
For several weeks every year, we are bombarded with negative images of witches and witchcraft, the uglier or sillier, the better. Devils and upside-down pentagrams and vertical pentagrams on mangled statues pop-up at big box stores and Halloween emporiums. Churches begin to rail against Halloween and the evils of witchcraft in a variety of flavors, whether witches worship Satan or are consorts of Satan or practive black magic or eat children or (insert horrible deed of your choice here). Halloween as the devil’s holiday when witches play spills into the conversation when people start talking about what to do on October 31.
All of this makes daily living a little more trecherous for those of us who do magick. Who wear our pentacles proudly. Who follow the path of Wicca, or contemporary Witchcraft.
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Earlier this week, I got to listen to some party planners talk about decorations for a Halloween event. It was to be evil witches, hex signs, black magic “stuff”, and other things that were out of my earshot but well within my imagination. I cringed, and then my best friend got to listen to me have a good long cuss about it.
Last year, one friend got publically called out for wearing a pentagram, told that that was satanic and inapproapriate and wrong and evil and how could she wear THAT?
I had a person give me one (she has seen the one I wear everyday) that wound up in a lot of jewelry she was given because she didn’t want that “dirty thing” in her house, because her daughter told her that it was satanic and witchcraft and evil. I asked her if she had ever talked to someone who was a witch. She said no, and I said she was talking to one, and did so every week. Stopped her cold, and after a long conversation, she hugged me.
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I do not hide my faith, nor am I preachy about it. I practice it quietly, in my own way, and discuss it with fellow Wiccans and Pagans (my pentacle pendant is a sure conversation starter). If anyone says anything about my jewelry, I politely educate them. Most listen. Some tell me that I need Jesus in my life. Some just tell me I am going to hell.
But at this time of year, I get angry. And sad. But mostly angry. I want to post signs and write letters and scream at people that this hurts. It hurts like signs and graffiti painted in religious slurs and carried around. It hurts like Christians and Muslims and Jews and people of all faiths hurt when they are visibly and publically derided. And it hurts most because it is socially acceptable. It’s big money. It’s a laugh-a-minute. It terrifies children. It perpetuates stereotypes. It keeps us in the broom closet.
And for weeks per year, it’s everywhere.
*Not all Wiccans refer to themselves as witches, not all witches follow Wicca. Some men use the title witch, others use wizard or warlock. I use Wiccan or witch for myself, gender-inappropriate though it may be. -JV
Author’s note: The purpose of this article was to share my personal experiences. I chose not to go into the history of Halloween and witches, but there is a lot of readily available information online.
—Photo SteFou!/Flickr
Reading articles like this remind me of how big a cultural gap there is between Ireland and the US despite our shared language. In the last day I’ve seen Germans, Britains and Australians complain about the “US” nature of Halloween (despite it’s actual Irish origins). It’s saddens me. Halloween is a big thing over here. While it’s certainly taking on some qualities of it’s US version (like pumpkins instead of turnips), I love it dearly. Witches, demons, superheroes and princesses. My kids love it. I can get why the ridiculous images of witches could be offensive. But being Irish we’re… Read more »
I agree. Never met a Wiccan who wasn’t gonzo about Halloween. Also, I’ve never seen a witch Halloween costume that wasn’t adorable (cute puffy skirt and striped tights on a toddler with a pointy hat), or sexy/skanky (college coed going to a party), or based on the Wizard of Oz (Glinda and Westie). Most Wiccans I know are hippy, granola, polyamorous types. They’re not scary or evil, or perceived to be so (unless the person doing the perceiving is kind of a wing nut). Maybe you get more nastiness in Northern Alabama than we get above the Mason Dixon line,… Read more »
I have friends who participate in similar practices, and fully support the right to take part these kinds of rituals…. however, when you say “faith,” that kind of weirds me out. It sounds like … religion. Having been raised Catholic, I’m skeptical of “belief” in any form. Sure, “practice” yoga or Wicca or any other lifestyle … but “faith”? Why must you use that term, which has such a loaded connotation?
If you base your spiritual practices on an archetype that is inherently associated with antinomian values, it seems a bit counter productive to get all grinchy about it when popular culture chooses to celebrate that aesthetic!
Hawthorn, could you please elaborate? I’d be interested to know why you think that Wiccan spiritual practices are based on an archetype. Also, what is you opinion of popular culture celebrating negative aesthetics of any group? Thank you.