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.The Mithraic Supper and the ChristianLove-feasts were of the same class.Throughout all the ceremonies of this early religion there is an air of joyous gaiety and cheerful happinesswhich even the holy horror of the Christian recorders cannot completely disguise.When the witches' ownwords are given without distortion their feelings towards their religious rites and their god are diametricallyopposed to the sentiments of the Christians.The joyousness of the cult is particularly marked in thedescriptions of the feasts, perhaps because to the recorders there was nothing specially wicked in theceremony, and they were at less pains to attribute infernal and devilish meanings to it than to other parts ofthe pagan ritual.At the Great Sabbaths when whole villages met together for a combination of religion and amusement thefeast must have been a source of great happiness, symbolising as it did the gifts of God to man, with the godhimself presiding in person.The acknowledgment to the Divine Man of his gifts is recorded in the evidenceof Isobel Gowdie at Nairn; she stated that when they had finished eating, "we looked steadfastly to the Devil,and bowing to him we said, 'We thank thee, our lord, for this'"[78]CHAPTER IV.THE RITES 45 THE GOD OF THE WITCHESThere seems to have been some doubt in the minds of the judges as to whether the feasts were not illusion onthe part of the "Foul Fiend", so that it is interesting to find that the inquisitor Boguet[79] reports, that "veryoften at the Sabbath, they eat in good earnest, and not by fantasy and imagination." The style of the feastvaried according to the wealth of the giver.Boguet is again our informant when he says that the banquetswere composed of various sorts of food, according to the place and rank of the participants, the table beingcovered with butter, cheese and meat.Among the very poor there was often no feast, as in Alsace in 1618[80]when Catherine Volmar contracted a witch-marriage with the Devil Peterlin, "there was no banquet becauseno one had brought food or drink".When weather permitted the food was eaten in the open air.The feasts of the witches of Wincanton, inSomerset,[81] sound very pleasant, "all sate down, a white Cloth being spread on the ground, and did drinkWine, and eat Cakes and Meat".In Scotland, where the weather was more uncertain, the records show thatthe feast usually took place indoors.The food was supplied by the Chief as a rule; sometimes one of thericher members of the coven would provide; and it was also not uncommon for the congregation to bringeach his or her own food and eat it in company.In this last case the food was apt to be homely enough, as inSweden[82], where "the diet they did use to have was, they said, Broth with Colworts and Bacon in it,Oatmeal, Bread spread with Butter, Milk, and Cheese." When the Grandmaster provided the food the feastwas worthy of the giver, and if a rich member was the hostess the food was always of the best.Thus ElspethBruce[83] gave her fellow-members a goose in her own house, and found great favour in the eyes of theMaster, partly on account of her good dinner, but also because she was "ane prettie woman".The Lancashirewitches[84] had a simple method of providing for their feast, they merely took what they required from somelocal farmer, "the persons aforesaid had to their dinners beef, bacon, and roasted mutton; which mutton wasof a wether of Christopher Swyers of Barley; which wether was brought in the night before into his mother'shouse by James Device, and killed and eaten." In the same way the witches of Forfar[85] helped themselvesto what they wanted, "they went to Mary Rynd's house and sat down together at the table, the Devil beingpresent at the head of it; and some of them went to John Benny's house, he being a brewer, and brought alefrom thence, and others of them went to Alexander's Hieche's and brought aqua vitae from thence, and thusmade themselves merry."The Somerset witches in 1664[86] were always the guests of their chief, who treated them well, "at theirmeeting they have usually Wine or good Beer, Cakes, Meat or the like.They eat and drink really when theymeet in their bodies, dance also and have Musick".Another account says that "they had Wine, Cakes, andRoastmeat (all brought by the Man in Black) which they did eat and drink.They danced and were merry, andwere bodily there and in their Clothes".Even as early as 1588[87] Alison Peirson, who went among thefairies, said that a man in green "appeared to her, a lusty man, with many men and women with him; sheblessed herself and prayed, passed and with them further than she could tell; and saw with them piping andmerriness and good cheer, and was carried to Lothian, and saw wine puncheons with tasses with them".Marie Lamont[88] in 1662 said that "the Devil came to Kattrein Scott's house in the midst of the night, hewas in the likeness of a mickle black man, and sung to them and they danced.He gave them wine to drinkand wheat bread to eat, and they were all very merry".At Borrowstowness in 1679[89] there was a largeparty, the accusation was that "ye and each person of you was at several meetings with the Devil in the linksof Borrowstowness, and in the house of you, Bessie Vickar, and ye did eat and drink with the Devil, and withone another, and with witches in her house in the night time; and the Devil and William Craw brought the alewhich ye drank, extending to seven gallons".Very different was the picnic feast of the Andover coven inNew England;[90] Goody Foster, of Salem, was asked what she did for victuals at the meeting, "sheanswered that she carried Bread and Cheese in her pocket, and that she and the Andover Company came tothe Village before the Meeting began, and sat down together under a tree and eat their food, and that shedrank water out of a Brook to quench her thirst.And that the Meeting was upon a plain grassy place, bywhich was a Cart path and sandy ground in the path, in which were the tracks of Horses' feet.And she alsotold me how long they were going and returning".CHAPTER IV.THE RITES 46 THE GOD OF THE WITCHESThe general belief among the Christian recorders was that at a witchfeast salt was not permitted, and variousreasons were adduced to account for the omission.The sanctity of salt was a pre-Christian idea, and thetaboo on its use was strictly observed by the Egyptian priests.Salt has a special significance among Moslemsand other non-Christian peoples, and the belief in its holiness has continued into Christian times and even tothe present day, for it is used in the making of the baptismal chrism.The spilling of salt is still consideredunlucky, and the sowing of salt on the site of a sacked town probably meant that the place was taboo andmight not be cultivated.The accounts of the witch-feasts show that salt was commonly used, though hereand there it appears to have been omitted [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
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.The Mithraic Supper and the ChristianLove-feasts were of the same class.Throughout all the ceremonies of this early religion there is an air of joyous gaiety and cheerful happinesswhich even the holy horror of the Christian recorders cannot completely disguise.When the witches' ownwords are given without distortion their feelings towards their religious rites and their god are diametricallyopposed to the sentiments of the Christians.The joyousness of the cult is particularly marked in thedescriptions of the feasts, perhaps because to the recorders there was nothing specially wicked in theceremony, and they were at less pains to attribute infernal and devilish meanings to it than to other parts ofthe pagan ritual.At the Great Sabbaths when whole villages met together for a combination of religion and amusement thefeast must have been a source of great happiness, symbolising as it did the gifts of God to man, with the godhimself presiding in person.The acknowledgment to the Divine Man of his gifts is recorded in the evidenceof Isobel Gowdie at Nairn; she stated that when they had finished eating, "we looked steadfastly to the Devil,and bowing to him we said, 'We thank thee, our lord, for this'"[78]CHAPTER IV.THE RITES 45 THE GOD OF THE WITCHESThere seems to have been some doubt in the minds of the judges as to whether the feasts were not illusion onthe part of the "Foul Fiend", so that it is interesting to find that the inquisitor Boguet[79] reports, that "veryoften at the Sabbath, they eat in good earnest, and not by fantasy and imagination." The style of the feastvaried according to the wealth of the giver.Boguet is again our informant when he says that the banquetswere composed of various sorts of food, according to the place and rank of the participants, the table beingcovered with butter, cheese and meat.Among the very poor there was often no feast, as in Alsace in 1618[80]when Catherine Volmar contracted a witch-marriage with the Devil Peterlin, "there was no banquet becauseno one had brought food or drink".When weather permitted the food was eaten in the open air.The feasts of the witches of Wincanton, inSomerset,[81] sound very pleasant, "all sate down, a white Cloth being spread on the ground, and did drinkWine, and eat Cakes and Meat".In Scotland, where the weather was more uncertain, the records show thatthe feast usually took place indoors.The food was supplied by the Chief as a rule; sometimes one of thericher members of the coven would provide; and it was also not uncommon for the congregation to bringeach his or her own food and eat it in company.In this last case the food was apt to be homely enough, as inSweden[82], where "the diet they did use to have was, they said, Broth with Colworts and Bacon in it,Oatmeal, Bread spread with Butter, Milk, and Cheese." When the Grandmaster provided the food the feastwas worthy of the giver, and if a rich member was the hostess the food was always of the best.Thus ElspethBruce[83] gave her fellow-members a goose in her own house, and found great favour in the eyes of theMaster, partly on account of her good dinner, but also because she was "ane prettie woman".The Lancashirewitches[84] had a simple method of providing for their feast, they merely took what they required from somelocal farmer, "the persons aforesaid had to their dinners beef, bacon, and roasted mutton; which mutton wasof a wether of Christopher Swyers of Barley; which wether was brought in the night before into his mother'shouse by James Device, and killed and eaten." In the same way the witches of Forfar[85] helped themselvesto what they wanted, "they went to Mary Rynd's house and sat down together at the table, the Devil beingpresent at the head of it; and some of them went to John Benny's house, he being a brewer, and brought alefrom thence, and others of them went to Alexander's Hieche's and brought aqua vitae from thence, and thusmade themselves merry."The Somerset witches in 1664[86] were always the guests of their chief, who treated them well, "at theirmeeting they have usually Wine or good Beer, Cakes, Meat or the like.They eat and drink really when theymeet in their bodies, dance also and have Musick".Another account says that "they had Wine, Cakes, andRoastmeat (all brought by the Man in Black) which they did eat and drink.They danced and were merry, andwere bodily there and in their Clothes".Even as early as 1588[87] Alison Peirson, who went among thefairies, said that a man in green "appeared to her, a lusty man, with many men and women with him; sheblessed herself and prayed, passed and with them further than she could tell; and saw with them piping andmerriness and good cheer, and was carried to Lothian, and saw wine puncheons with tasses with them".Marie Lamont[88] in 1662 said that "the Devil came to Kattrein Scott's house in the midst of the night, hewas in the likeness of a mickle black man, and sung to them and they danced.He gave them wine to drinkand wheat bread to eat, and they were all very merry".At Borrowstowness in 1679[89] there was a largeparty, the accusation was that "ye and each person of you was at several meetings with the Devil in the linksof Borrowstowness, and in the house of you, Bessie Vickar, and ye did eat and drink with the Devil, and withone another, and with witches in her house in the night time; and the Devil and William Craw brought the alewhich ye drank, extending to seven gallons".Very different was the picnic feast of the Andover coven inNew England;[90] Goody Foster, of Salem, was asked what she did for victuals at the meeting, "sheanswered that she carried Bread and Cheese in her pocket, and that she and the Andover Company came tothe Village before the Meeting began, and sat down together under a tree and eat their food, and that shedrank water out of a Brook to quench her thirst.And that the Meeting was upon a plain grassy place, bywhich was a Cart path and sandy ground in the path, in which were the tracks of Horses' feet.And she alsotold me how long they were going and returning".CHAPTER IV.THE RITES 46 THE GOD OF THE WITCHESThe general belief among the Christian recorders was that at a witchfeast salt was not permitted, and variousreasons were adduced to account for the omission.The sanctity of salt was a pre-Christian idea, and thetaboo on its use was strictly observed by the Egyptian priests.Salt has a special significance among Moslemsand other non-Christian peoples, and the belief in its holiness has continued into Christian times and even tothe present day, for it is used in the making of the baptismal chrism.The spilling of salt is still consideredunlucky, and the sowing of salt on the site of a sacked town probably meant that the place was taboo andmight not be cultivated.The accounts of the witch-feasts show that salt was commonly used, though hereand there it appears to have been omitted [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]