Witches - A Discussion of Superstition and Myth - Research Paper Example

Witches - A Discussion of Superstition and Myth Abstract: Superstition has long affected the way in which people understand the world and relate to occurrences and points of view that exist around them. The following discussion will be concentric upon witches and the cultural interpretation that has come to be affixed to such individuals that are, or have been accused of being, witches. Through such a discussion and analysis, it is the hope of this author that the reader will come to a more appreciable level of understanding concerning how illogical superstition has contributed to mass hysteria and incorrect, oftentimes dangerous labels, that have been affixed to an interpretation of what a witch represents. Since the beginning of time, humans have attempted to understand the environment around them and make sense of occurrences that oftentimes had little to no reasonable explanation; or so it seemed. As a result of this, the creation of gods and legends helped to define what would otherwise be considered a very chaotic and disturbing environment; one in which death and acts of calamity were all too present. Oftentimes these myths were relatively harmless and did not contribute to any one member of society being persecuted or harassed. At other times, rituals and superstition demanded that a particular type of individual should be shunned, mistreated, or even hunted down and killed. The focus of this particular discussion is on the superstitious origins of the term “witch” and the manner through which this particular identification has come to be propagated for such a very long period of time. It is the further intent of the analysis to point to the illogical and unrealistic mechanisms through which a “witch” has been defined and correlate these to the manner in which individuals that are considered as “aberrant” to society are oftentimes grouped. History: Before delving directly into a discussion of witches throughout history, it is necessary to note that the definition or determination of a “witch” throughout history has been an individual that did not ascribe to the norm. As such, whether for reasons of disability, unsightliness, or mental illness, a witch has oftentimes been a societal label for an individual that could not integrate or fit in with the remainder of society (Schwartz, 2004). Naturally, within this understanding, it is vital to realize that the label of a witch has absolutely nothing to do with magical powers or some type of collaboration with a mythical dark spiritual force. Instead, it is merely a cruel way in which societies have chosen to label people that do not abide by a given set of norms and standards that they have set forward to group their society by. A further consideration that should be made is with regard to the fact that witches have invariably been female throughout the course of history. As a direct result of conservative societal norms, witchcraft and sorcery have been convenient labels to ascribe to precocious young women that are not afraid of their own sexuality and use it as they come of age (Bovenschen, 1978). Once again, rather than turning to a superstitious interpretation of what a witch defines, this fear of human sexuality and the pervasive terror that female sexuality could corrupt or otherwise erode the norms/values of a particular society is a main contributing factor to the creation and furtherance of the term throughout history. Cultural Significance: Another manifestation of the way in which witch has come to be defined throughout the ages has to do with the fact that the definition of a “witch” was oftentimes an individual that did not ascribe to the dominant religion of a particular region or people group. Evidence of this can be seen as far back as the Old Testament when the Israelites were instructed to ensure that witches were killed so that they may not have a corrupting influence on the people. Evidence of this can of course be seen in the witch frenzy that gripped Europe during the Middle Ages and the witch hunts of early colonial North America that saw young women die horrific deaths under mere suspicion that they were in league with the devil (Unger, 1990). The underlying take away from all of this is the fact that the definition of “witch” has shifted and developed as society has changed priorities, sought to define gender, attempted to define religious observance, and created unnatural definitions of what can and cannot be accepted. Location and Definition: It should also be noted that the definition of witch is one that varies broadly from one region to another. Moreover, the witchcraft is something that has been exhibited throughout Europe and throughout most of the world for that matter. As such, the widespread nature of this myth is one that stands as fairly uniform among world culture. Yet, it should also be understood that the definition of a “witch” also has one other factor that has promoted the continued existence of such a term and such a broad societal understanding for what it denotes. How the Myth was Perpetrated and Has Survived: As such, perhaps the greatest and most important reason for why this particular term is so widely recognized and has been employed within so many different cultural and religious groups throughout the globe has to do with the fact that witchcraft, and by extension a witch, has been a scapegoat to explain that which was unexplainable at the time (Smoczynski, 2013). For instance, villagers in a remote area of the globe several thousand years ago would not have had expert knowledge with respect to why the volcano might have erupted. Why People Believed in Witchcraft and How it Came to be Disproved: The appreciation for the fact that shifts in the earth’s crust and super heated pockets of magma are ejected at somewhat regular intervals was neither understood nor even considered (Nenonen, 2012). Without a scientific method and a means of accurately and carefully hypothesizing as to what the reason for this seemingly cataclysmic event might be, the scapegoat of the “witch” and/or “witchcraft” has been a convenient explanation for that which might otherwise confound all reason within the particular culture, religion, or people group in question (Zhu, 2013). This final explanation for the term is the one that Carl Sagan utilizes to the greatest extent within his book; entitled The Demon Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark. The lack of science, understanding, and critical thinking led individuals of the past to define the world in terms of simplistic and illogical constructs that ultimately provided to be harmful to the individuals that were labeled and to the eventual progress of humanity as a whole. Conclusion: From the information that has thus far been presented, it is clear and apparent that the definition of a witch is one that varies across cultures. However, it leverages an understanding that an individual that is described in such a way has special magical abilities; something that cannot be proven by scientific understanding. Using this as an encouragement to question our own culturally accepted norms, the reader should understand the fact that the incorrect definition of “witch” and “witchcraft” might be only the beginning to seeking to reveal further levels of misunderstanding and/or ignorance that may be represented within their own lives or within their own cultures. References Bovenschen, S. (1978). The Contemporary Witch, the Historical Witch and the Witch of Myth: The Witch, Subject of the Appropiation of nature and Object of the Domination of Nature. New German Critique, (15), 83. Nenonen, M. (2012). Who Bears the Guilt for the Persecution of Witches?. Studia Neophilologica, 84(sup1), 70-87. doi:10.1080/00393274.2012.668072 Schwartz, S. (2004). Witchcraft in a Cultural Context. Film History, 16(4), 378-392. Smoczynski, R. (2013). Persecuting witches in the Early Modern and Late Modern eras: Similarities and differences of the Sabbath myth. Anthropological Notebooks, 19(2), 25-38. Unger, R. R., & Ludwig, G. G. (1990). Oh, Goddess!. New York, 23(22), 40. Zhu, R. (2013). The science of Hallowe'en. Economist, 349(8092), 89. Read More