Halloween is the modern celebration of the pagan Samhain, in
\nwhich the veil between worlds is pierced and spirits make their way back into the
\nland of the living. It is a lovely concept, so strongly held onto over the centuries, that even Christianity incorporated the ritual into a holy day, All Souls Day, on November 1.<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\nHere in Salem, Massachusetts, where I live part of the time, Halloween is celebrated all month, mostly by tourists eager to dress as goblins and witches and by the businesses that cash in on the reveling. I hate the traipsing and traffic of the crowds. More than that, I hate the (typically unwitting) celebration of the barbarism practiced by Christians over the centuries.<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEg-pCNnM4tPJhnZ8Msy29uymZ8o25RdwASLyt1o49BgaypH9PTpGCSl3ivln4xD-4ShyphenhypheniGKZNB2gZcUKGIS2iozGViU6DI8TNh7yaagBfVkOVbFV_w235deih0jRNgrwH4i2VyYjf3CVLkmUIMQ3nFL8Ry1HIJ7cko4RSRWhL31oxV7k-ov0ydGeQb9R69a\/w554-h462\/1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Image from the internet<\/span><\/p>\nAs we crack open our Kit Kats, we might remember that
\nbranding a woman as a witch was a way to control her. And what better way to
\ncontrol her than by killing her\u2014by burning, as was done in Europe in the Middle
\nAges and by hanging, as was done in Salem, Massachusetts. Consider Joan of Arc,
\nwho was burned at the stake in 1431 in Rouen, France, for being a heretic, sorcerer,
\nand crossdresser.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Burning continued in Puritan England for
\nalmost 300 years. According to the magazine Historic UK,<\/i> \u201cFrom 1484 until around 1750 some 200,000
\nwitches were tortured, burnt, or hanged in Western Europe.\u201d\u00a0
I remember reading
\nof advice offered to women of the time: Breathe deeply of the smoke so that you
\nwill be killed by asphyixiation before the flames char your flesh.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEj8ZN-rgda6ocfBwY3s-0vWv8m7fTUtB5qmiBB1EpwbORJRm4_Ivct2eL5viIySgpULOpXyXriJGxlYf1TiXeWa4gwW8i37TQAnzTlbY2BhfZzRspil7sDDymb8MyDfjRV0yTn4mQ1lc42iHgdOYSmxpDVvm4AODmrig0zNVZ8-_-WFTHQRDpmi2vXldHVs\/w582-h327\/2%20Joan%20of%20arc.webp\")
<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p>\nA depiction of Joan of Arc at the stake<\/p>\n
Below, an image from the internet showing a baby tossed in for good measure (a reminder that terrorism has long been with “civilization”)<\/p>\n
<\/span><\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEiG-Nk5orzOA89JM6Avh9rtyn1WcIeu3lCSOZs8-gpHhyIDfIlIQCv0_UdoT5T1DhFqwo2w-F5WO12zo3RTN0HwCidm56fir9PkMdgadnrsXEPdlSxv1vtdzfwwheqFHid6eVU9_RsACi8V2ABEKUgBfy_rH2ZmVx-Eqed74Ulm0Lcw1mX5Ga0Rud3uhd9I\/w599-h400\/3%20More%20witches.PNG\")
<\/a><\/div>\nThe numbers were much smaller in Salem, and the manner of
\nkilling different, but the deaths were no less appalling. In a year between
\nJune 1692 and May 1693, 19 people were hanged as witches, 14 of them women, including
\nthe women whose names you see on the monument at Proctor\u2019s Ledge in Salem. Tituba<\/a>,
\nan enslaved woman of Barbadian or indigenous South American origin, was
\nreputedly the first woman to be accused. She was not hanged but spent a year in
\njail after accusing others of the crime. That \u201cconfession\u201d was beaten out of
\nher. After she was released, she disappeared from Salem\u2019s historical record.
\n(Of the five men, 81-year–old Giles Corey was pressed to death with heavy
\nstones.)<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEit56EqutsIiqqsRRHEjbW1tFL5Lff58H7MonU9oNtFnuWpF6lXJwkRhWis4pyN9kiWYAnZElzY2ITsphs0vlBqijwo5UyrFrEkreJmjgwUUjEMZVOVKCtCKrRC9vcf324ZQ_OjEHd31JykOQhSX9vbYz2QduSqnyUavu_Sd1NOx3RtOTYCG1gCWu_YenVr\/w640-h480\/2021-06-16.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nContemporary memorial to the women and who were hanged as witches at Proctor’s Ledge, on Gallows Hill in Salem, Massachusetts, where the killings took place.<\/p>\n
Photo Jim DeGennaro from the internet<\/p>\nBelow, a closer view of one stone
Image from the internet<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEihsdYvUkF0bvKkP_DJj-tZZpV24vZoIW18OgJdu-EK9tU8Qui2yVm7qQ7qRK6ZAHcXrn7stoDH8hK06OMErAN-in4XO31V0N1gHzitl6XjAK0CElf_ynAdYyzn76_vIb_mFKetWaJAdpJXqCcyVPPOr_FrhxgrOwDIbd1Oh93EdPLZxEKc_0KNbCRVuHeR\/w640-h468\/6%20REbecca%20Nurse.PNG\")
<\/a><\/div>\nThe inquisitioners in both England and Salem had a unique method of determining
\nif a woman was a witch: dunking. They dropped a bound woman into a body of water. If
\nshe somehow survived, she was a witch and was burned or hanged. If she drowned, she was
\ninnocent.<\/p>\n
If she escaped the flames or the noose, there were other punishments in store for an outspoken woman. In 16th<\/sup>– and 17th<\/sup>-century England and Scotland, her head might have been strapped into what was called a\u00a0scold\u2019s bridle<\/b><\/a>. This was not just a muzzle, but a\u00a0contraption<\/b><\/a>\u00a0that contained a metal plate that pressed on her tongue. In its most extreme form, the plate had a spike that pushed into the tongue itself. So much for having an opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\nDo I need to add that this unspeakably cruel punishment was meted out only to women?
\u00a0<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEjuKsxAbe17X61R9fNeYgMzho9y3VAWQvN9MWoCasyKDouOyRnX2fcJFiDuW6iWfdpqXV3c0Cthl6XCx6pVhDgu1zQWVrku5Z7Z83cVhwhMEkesk5M3eilGD8aYs2nWlgvWYG28N3WXuSCa6zfTy0kQn7-5FS967av_COi8cXpahlBl4A6XqhH9Jgr91Kfd\/w640-h632\/8.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nWorse than being branded with a scarlet A,\u00a0 the scold’s bridle encased a woman’s head. Presumably she was still required to keep house and care for her children<\/p>\nBelow: the actual bridle was far more sadistic. And note the little bell atop the contraption. Clearly it was designed to add insult to injury, drawing attention to the woman when she ventured into the marketplace<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEhLimxtE-kvslALAQwi1BSolFiidCCqsBE2HpVG4rnETLGqbexLK6EN7TllAm4LNhTIx3jBlyGhouotY7mivSix0pSEbhQI70BkkzqgFAfcSqv8r17iJaat6XcNuTjoRQaOZeaZXPcBB9ClPZxVSJ_Ut50WCu7urRP6fA5jPratBwhGS5j8Y7DYtK7QWLxS\/w426-h640\/10.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\nMussolini had a way to deal with independent women or those
\nwhom he saw as not conforming to his fascist ideas about how they should
\nbehave: For two decades he locked them away in menta<\/b>l a<\/a>sylums. Their families
\nwere so ashamed, that many women were refused return by their own families.<\/i><\/p>\nOur rights have always been tenuous and the punishments for
\nour \u201ctransgressions\u201d sadistic. The GOP \u00a0<\/span>reminds us of this daily. Fight
\nback! Enjoy contemporary Halloween, but donate–to Planned Parenthood<\/b><\/a>, the ACLU<\/b><\/a>, and to Democratic candidates at the local, state, and national levels. Vote Democratic.<\/p>\nAnd remember . . .<\/p>\n
![](\"https:\/\/blogger.googleusercontent.com\/img\/b\/R29vZ2xl\/AVvXsEg-pCNnM4tPJhnZ8Msy29uymZ8o25RdwASLyt1o49BgaypH9PTpGCSl3ivln4xD-4ShyphenhypheniGKZNB2gZcUKGIS2iozGViU6DI8TNh7yaagBfVkOVbFV_w235deih0jRNgrwH4i2VyYjf3CVLkmUIMQ3nFL8Ry1HIJ7cko4RSRWhL31oxV7k-ov0ydGeQb9R69a\/s576\/1.jpg\")
<\/a><\/div>\n\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
Image from the internet<\/span><\/p>\n As we crack open our Kit Kats, we might remember that Burning continued in Puritan England for \u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n A depiction of Joan of Arc at the stake<\/p>\n Below, an image from the internet showing a baby tossed in for good measure (a reminder that terrorism has long been with “civilization”)<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The numbers were much smaller in Salem, and the manner of Contemporary memorial to the women and who were hanged as witches at Proctor’s Ledge, on Gallows Hill in Salem, Massachusetts, where the killings took place.<\/p>\n Below, a closer view of one stone <\/p>\n The inquisitioners in both England and Salem had a unique method of determining If she escaped the flames or the noose, there were other punishments in store for an outspoken woman. In 16th<\/sup>– and 17th<\/sup>-century England and Scotland, her head might have been strapped into what was called a\u00a0scold\u2019s bridle<\/b><\/a>. This was not just a muzzle, but a\u00a0contraption<\/b><\/a>\u00a0that contained a metal plate that pressed on her tongue. In its most extreme form, the plate had a spike that pushed into the tongue itself. So much for having an opinion.\u00a0<\/p>\n Do I need to add that this unspeakably cruel punishment was meted out only to women? Below: the actual bridle was far more sadistic. And note the little bell atop the contraption. Clearly it was designed to add insult to injury, drawing attention to the woman when she ventured into the marketplace<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Mussolini had a way to deal with independent women or those Our rights have always been tenuous and the punishments for And remember . . .<\/p>\n
\nbranding a woman as a witch was a way to control her. And what better way to
\ncontrol her than by killing her\u2014by burning, as was done in Europe in the Middle
\nAges and by hanging, as was done in Salem, Massachusetts. Consider Joan of Arc,
\nwho was burned at the stake in 1431 in Rouen, France, for being a heretic, sorcerer,
\nand crossdresser.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\nalmost 300 years. According to the magazine Historic UK,<\/i> \u201cFrom 1484 until around 1750 some 200,000
\nwitches were tortured, burnt, or hanged in Western Europe.\u201d\u00a0
I remember reading
\nof advice offered to women of the time: Breathe deeply of the smoke so that you
\nwill be killed by asphyixiation before the flames char your flesh.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nkilling different, but the deaths were no less appalling. In a year between
\nJune 1692 and May 1693, 19 people were hanged as witches, 14 of them women, including
\nthe women whose names you see on the monument at Proctor\u2019s Ledge in Salem. Tituba<\/a>,
\nan enslaved woman of Barbadian or indigenous South American origin, was
\nreputedly the first woman to be accused. She was not hanged but spent a year in
\njail after accusing others of the crime. That \u201cconfession\u201d was beaten out of
\nher. After she was released, she disappeared from Salem\u2019s historical record.
\n(Of the five men, 81-year–old Giles Corey was pressed to death with heavy
\nstones.)<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
Image from the internet<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nif a woman was a witch: dunking. They dropped a bound woman into a body of water. If
\nshe somehow survived, she was a witch and was burned or hanged. If she drowned, she was
\ninnocent.<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/a><\/div>\n
\nwhom he saw as not conforming to his fascist ideas about how they should
\nbehave: For two decades he locked them away in menta<\/b>l a<\/a>sylums. Their families
\nwere so ashamed, that many women were refused return by their own families.<\/i><\/p>\n
\nour \u201ctransgressions\u201d sadistic. The GOP \u00a0<\/span>reminds us of this daily. Fight
\nback! Enjoy contemporary Halloween, but donate–to Planned Parenthood<\/b><\/a>, the ACLU<\/b><\/a>, and to Democratic candidates at the local, state, and national levels. Vote Democratic.<\/p>\n