Who is a witch
and where does she live?
A typical image of the Russian fairytale character Baba-Yaga
comprises an entire array of notions about witches.
She is often viewed as an old and ugly woman, with an inborn love
for evil and an urge to kill.
Few know however that the actual word "ved'ma" [Russian for
"witch"] comes from the ancient Russian "ved'", meaning
"knowledge". Many cultures worldwide have assigned practically the
same qualities to this character. A woman could have been born a
witch or she could have become one later in life.
Most commonly, she inherited her magic skills from her
mother-witch. She could also inherit the traits after being born
illegitimately or in case her mother had been breastfeeding the
girl for more than two years.
One could acquire the "gift" of witchcraft by establishing a
connection with the devil himself with a purpose to learn
secret
knowledge. Every witch had a special mark on her body. It could
have been a birthmark or any other physical anomaly.
It was often thought that a witch"s main purpose was casting evil
eye on people"s livestock. A witch would take away cow"s milk,
pig's lard and chicken eggs. In case of a child"s sickness or
death, people would blame witches. Such reaction concerned any sort
of a disaster that happened to take place in their village.
In early medieval times, devil worshipping was relatively common.
As a result, people felt fearful before witches, his servants. This
fear triggered the Church to start a fight against evil. Those
witch-hunts were conducted on legal grounds, which in turn
triggered active development of legal writings on the subject
matter. "Witch Hammer" written by one of the Shprenger"s monks is
considered to be one of the most important manuscripts of that
epoch.
This manuscript provides vivid accounts of lives of witches.
For
instance, according to this work, witches are those who refuse
to
believe in the Sacred Trinity and oppose everything that
emanates
from God. They worship devil. Witches are initiated in a pile
of
manure; she is "baptized" in boiling water.
Several million years ago, many women have fallen victims to
this
nonsense. Such hysteria over witchcraft did not touch ancient
Russia. However, it should be noted that a dozen witches and
"fortune tellers" have been executed in 1411 in the Russian town of
Pskov.
Nowadays, witchcraft a fully legal activity, but it also appears
to
be rather profitable. Many grandmas, healers and fortune
tellers
around the world are willing to help whoever is in need of
their
services.
In Tanzania, for instance, they publish a newspaper which is
fully
devoted to magic and witchcraft. This country is famous for
its
beliefs in paranormal activities and magic and the newspaper is
a
great success. In order to attract tourists and bring the
country's
economy to prosperity, Romanian Dracula takes the stage.
