Easter witches

It's been a while since I wrote here in the blog and thought it was time again. I have previously written a bit about Christmas and its traditions. Since it has just been Easter, I thought it might be a little fun to find out a little about one of the Easter traditions that has to do with witches. Follow the course of history and find out where the Easter witches come from.

Easter witches 2008 and 1958. (Photo: Holger.Ellgaard, own photo montage - self-made (2008), family archive (1958))

Easter witches traditions

We dressed up as Easter witches as children, our children and grandchildren dress up as Easter witches and it's great fun - but where does the tradition come from? Why do we dress up? When did this custom begin?

Easter bitches, Easter bitch or Easter witch, is according to old Swedish folklore a witch who flies on her broom to a place called Blåkulla, on Maundy Thursday or the night between Maundy Wednesday and Maundy Thursday. On Easter day, the witches will return to their homes.

The word Blåkulla itself, is believed to be a Swedishization of the German word Blocksberg which is a home to Satan according to legend. Before, blue also meant black and Blåkulla then also meant Svarta Kullen.

History

It is uncertain how the idea of ​​Easter witches began, but it is believed that it comes from the 17th century witch accused. In the 1660s and 1670s, witch trials took place in Sweden and hundreds of women were executed after being accused of going to Satan's banquet. The banquet would have been held in a magnificent courtyard in a place often called Blåkulla. The "witches" who flew there on their brooms thought that lots of delicacies were served, but what they really got were frogs, snakes and toads.

It was thought that the witches went to Blåkulla on a broom or some kind of everyday tool, or sometimes on a pet. It was assumed that the witches could get through walls to get to Blåkulla and they could open a hole in any wall with the help of a needle, large enough to get out on the other side.

The witch sometimes took a child with her to serve Satan. A story from a child that they had been abducted to Blåkullla was enough for a witch to be killed in the witch trials and burned as punishment.

When the witches spent time at Blåkulla, the surroundings could not notice that they were gone, but it was as if they were still in their usual place.

Fully equipped for the journey to Blåkulla, the lady with the broom is ready for Easter.

People wanted to scare the witches away and to do that they lit fires and shot with rifles. Today, this remains in the form of Walpurgis Mass bonfires, may fires, Easter crackers and rockets. All brooms and garbage brushes were also hidden in the houses so that the witches would not take them and use them as a means of transport to Blåkulla.

But Easter witches are not at all the same as the witches believed in during the 17th century. Easter witches are based more on folk beliefs. For example, witches had accessories such as a coffee pot, a black cat and a broom and these have no direct connection to the witches of that time. In the 17th century, coffee was not drunk in Sweden and black cats are not mentioned anywhere from the documents of that time.

During research on the subject of Easter witches at the time, several people born between 1840 and 1870 have said that the tradition of Easter witches is "old" or "before my time" and that it was very "common in my parents' time".

Tradition

It is not known for sure when the tradition of dressing up as Easter ladies began in Sweden. In the middle of the 19th century, the custom already existed in western Swedish cities, so the first Easter witches are probably from the beginning of the 19th century or even earlier. Easter witches, who were initially adults and young people, who smeared their faces with soot and walked from house to house on Easter Eve. This started in Bohuslän, Dalsland and Värmland

Later, the tradition spread and it also became something that children did and had fun with, and smaller and smaller adults and young people dressed up.

Kids dressed up.

Both boys and girls dressed up and still do today, sometimes they dress up as Easter men with mustaches and hats or maybe Easter witches or chicken.

They walk around the houses and knock on the doors, wish a happy Easter and sometimes hand over small gifts such as Easter cards that they have made themselves.

Kids eastercards.

In Finland, children give away willow twigs when in eastern Finland it was believed that these twigs chased away evil spirits and that they also gave blessing and health.

Those who receive these small gifts from the children in return give a thank-you gift consisting of sweets or small change and which the children collect in a basket or coffee pot.

Local traditions

In Visby, a public Easter event is held every year, where adults also dress up as Easter witches and hand out Easter eggs.

In Värmland and Dalsland, you go to your acquaintances, open their door and shout Happy Easter at the same time as you throw Easter cards and sweets into the home.

In some places in Sweden, a straw doll was made that looked like an Easter witch, which was then burned up on Easter Eve.

Some places that have been called or are called Blåkulla:

• It is believed that the island Blå Jungfrun (sometimes called just Jungfrun), between northern Öland and Oskarshamn, was this place called Blåkulla.
• Blåkullen or Blåkulla on Brattön in Marstrand is also a place that the witches were thought to go to.
• The blue million program houses in Hagalund in Solna municipality are also called Blåkulla.
• Västra Laholm's housing municipality is called Blåkulla.
• Visby's police station has been called Blåkulla.
• Blåkulla gård is a riding school and farm in Västerhaninge south of Stockholm.

Feel free to tell me about your Easter traditions! Do you have pictures from when you dressed up as a child? Feel free to share with me!

//Daniel