Thursday, October 31, 2013

Bedknobs And Broomsticks

Where does the flying broomstick myth for the Halloween witch come from?  Is it related to hallucinogenic drugs...or is it a clever and subversive plot to undo a Christian tradition -- The Legend Of La Befana?

You decide:

A story published today in The Guardian (I know, that newspaper) caught my eye:

Halloween witch: is a travel sickness drug behind flying broomstick myth?

The story explores the association of witches and flying broomsticks and postulates that the old "witches' brew" contained powerful hallucinogenics, including herbs such as hemlock, nightshade, henbane, and mandrake. From the story:
That would have been a potent mixture. Nightshade, henbane and mandrake are some of the most toxic plants in the family Solanaceae. Nightshade (Atropa belladonna) is immediately recognisable for its deep purple fruit and was said to be tended by the Devil himself. Like its close relatives henbane (Hyoscymaus niger) and mandrake (Mandragora officinarum), its leaves and berries are packed with chemicals called tropane alkaloids.
If contemporary accounts are to be believed, "witches" applied this hallucinogenic ointment with the handle of a broom, smearing the ointment onto the length of the broom and then rubbing the handle against their genitals and even inserting it into the vagina. As the drugs took effect, delusions of flight may have ensued while astride the broomstick's handle. It has been argued that this drug-induced delusion lies at the the root of the myth of witches' flight.
Yikes!
The pharmacology is sound. "Ointment would have been very effective as a delivery method for scopolamine," says Dr Randolph Arroo, head of research at Leicester School of Pharmacy, De Montfort University. "Alkaloids go through your skin into the bloodstream – consider nicotine patches." Tropane alkaloids easily cross the blood-brain barrier, acting on the central nervous system.
"Mucous membranes are particularly good at transporting drugs - that's why cocaine is snorted," he adds. "Vaginal application would be pretty efficient, and the effects of the drugs would be noticeable quite rapidly."
So the ointment may well have been capable of delivering powerful delusions of flight. But the image of hallucinating women astride brooms is so highly sexualised as to seem comic. Did some of those accused of witchcraft really apply flying ointment in this way?
That's quite a flight of imagination. I'm sceptical. Another explanation is the co-opting of the older story of La Befana, a Christian legend also dating from the middle ages. Here is how La Befana is depicted in modern Italy:


Coinkydink?

If you don't know the story of La Befana and especially her obsession with brooms and broomsticks, watch this video I put together last year:

22 comments:

ricpic said...

According to Wikipedia the legend dates back to 1453 when a MALE witch confessed to flying on a broomstick. Typical male bragging.

YoungHegelian said...

...smearing the ointment onto the length of the broom and then rubbing the handle against their genitals and even inserting it into the vagina.

I really, really doubt this. Even with modern modern industrial wood milling, this is a recipe for painful splinters in tender places. Have you ever seen the milling on pre-industrial wood, especially for a quotidian, non-decorative item like a broom?

Sorry, male imagination on overdrive. If vaginal application was sought, just make some kind of pessary** or poultice & apply it. But wood? I don't think that's what the ladies mean when they say they're looking for some wood.


** Do I get a prize for using the word pessary in a blog comment?

chickelit said...

I don't think that's what the ladies mean when they say they're looking for some wood.

Wasn't Anita Hill was full of stories about "Long Dong Sliver"?

chickelit said...

@Eric: There is a very explicit passage in Barry Miles' biography of Allen Ginsberg which you might relate to.

ricpic said...

What's with this compulsion of Fruit Bats to provide TMI?

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Chip S pointed out that riding a broom straddle is not very lady like...

chickelit said...

I wish the Althouse commenter "broomhandle" would pipe up and say something here, even if it were short shrift.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Italy to Bethlehem - that's a trek.

chickelit said...

Italy to Bethlehem - that's a trek.

That's why she had to fly--sort of like Santa Claus--to reach as many kids as possible.

bagoh20 said...

Happy Halloween

Condor Cam

bagoh20 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

Speaking of aviation fails:

Location, location, location

Palladian said...

This gives a whole new perspective on quidditch.

chickelit said...

@Palladian: LOL!

chickelit said...

Speaking of aviation fails:

It behooved him to try.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Happy Halloween.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

@ Bagoh omg - I hope that person survived. It was sort of funny at first, but then all the mad screaming...

Mumpsimus said...

Used to be, witches rode the broom bristles-forward, as in this illustration. They were "riding" the broom like a horse, and the head of the broom suggested the head of a horse. In the 20th Century, we began thinking of the broom as an aircraft or rocket, not a horse, and reversed it to satisfy our sense of aerodynamics.

William said...

I always thought that the broomstick was some kind of phallic symbol. To so empower an object of household drudgery in such a way gives erotic power not to the broomstick but to the possessor of that object. The witch doesn't give a crap if you get splinters up your ass while she makes her appointed rounds.

Palladian said...

@Palladian: LOL!

Mhm

chickelit said...

Been ridin' broomsticks since she was fifteen.
Blowin' out all the other witches on the scene.
She got a bull whip, just as long as your life.
Her tongue can even scratch the soul out of the Devil’s wife.

chickelit said...

Wow, that link went down overnight. Lem must drive a lot of traffic. Try this.