El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1911-10-28
RENE BACHE'S BUDGET
H0LL0WE' EN- and ITS WITCHES
WHAT IS A JOKE TODAY WAS A TRAGEDY
NOT VERY LONG AGO
The Days When Poor Women Used to Pray They Might
Not Live to Grow Old, Lest They Be Burned as
Witches-How Fires For Executing Such IN
fortunates Blazed For Centuries All Over
Europe-The Historic Outbreak of the
Mania in New England

VTT ITCHES in these days are chiefly
w associated in peoples minds with
Halloween, when, as of yOre, they
are supposed TO celebrate their annual
carnival dispOrting themselves IN com
pany with multitude Of demons, and
playing all sorts Of pranks at the eX-
pense of unWary human beings.
All of this is today regarded as a
mere joke. but the tradition, now re-
solved into fun-making. comes down
from a period, not very far back in his
tory when it signified dreadful and
wholesale tragedy period during
which. for more than two and half
centuries, fires for the burning of peo-
pie accused Of Witchcraft were kept
continually blazing all over Europe
Those were times when poor woman
used commonly TO pray that they might
not live long enough to grow old lest
they be accused and burned as witches
In many towns of Germany 800 or
more witches we're publicly burned eV-
cry year The fires lighted for such eE-
ecutiOns blazed in every city of France.
In Geneva 500 were burned in 1873 and
1915 as Protestant Witches-their
chief Offense being really heresy- One
thousand were similarly disposed Of in
the district of Como in 1894
Survives in Nursery Tales.
The Witchcraft superstition still sur
wives, though in a harmless, fictiOual
form, in tales OF the nursery. Even in
Mother Goose the nag on a brOOmstick
figures cOnspicuously ANY intelligent
child Of school age VIII describe a witch
as a very old woman much bent and
hobbling with the aid Of stick or
crutch, who dWells in a wretched hut
This picture is correctly descriptive Of
the sort of persOn-pOOr, bent with age
and perchance more or less craZy-WhO
was practically certain to be denounced
as witch two centuries or more ago.
One should understand that a witch is
person who has made a compact with
the evil one, signed with her own blood,
HH- HnH Sob a~n- q
Tor certain advantages. Chief among
the latter is the control Of the demons,
whose services she can absolutely COM
mand for the doing of all sorts of evil
deeds.
The air according to the oId-tirne be-
llet) IS fun of demons One is liable to
take them into ones lungs in breathing
On one occasion, OF authentic record, a
nun forgot to make the sign of the
cross before she sat down to supper. in
consequence of which neglect she sWal-
lowed demon that was concealed
among the leaves of lettuce. The de-
mons can assume any form they please
sometimes they make themselves hid
eOus; at other times they adopt shapes
of tranScendent lOVeliuess. Occasional
ly they appear as handsome young men.
and, successfully concealing their tails.
marry unsuspecting young women
Where Witches Would Meet.
Tt was formerly understood that q f
intervals general meetings of witches
ard demons were held-the favorite
place for congresses Of the fieuds of
all Christendom being among the peaks
az the Broken, where even az the pres
ent day the mOuntain-climbe beholds
gigantic specters. Such a meeting vas
called a sabbath" and was celebrated
with obscene and horrible orgies. one
item Of the entertainment was usually
a dance of toads. thousands OF which
sprang out of the earth and pranced
abOut on their hind legs. speaking with
human voices, and calling upon +be
witches to give them flesh of unbap-
tised infants to eat.
Tn France and England witches rode
always on brOoUSticks. In Italv thew
bestrode a goat ftself a demon1 which
heightened or shortened according 10
the number of passengers it had to
carry. Ordinarily witches sailed over
the ocean in sleeves. and in entering or
leaving house they diG not use the