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The classic image of a witch wearing a pointy hat comes from 16th century England. Beer was the staple drink as it kept better than water and had nutritional v

The classic image of a witch wearing a pointy hat comes from 16th century England. Beer was the staple drink as it kept better than water and had nutritional value. Brewing beer was women's work in every household. Some expanded to sell beer at markets, and the pointy hat became a marker for a woman who sold beer. When men started breweries, it was about the time of witch hunts, and they started to accuse women brewers of witchcraft as a way of removing the competition — and that is how the pointy hat became associated with the image of a witch. Also, the beer was brewed in cauldrons, and cats were used to keep mice away from the grain that the beer was made of.

jelliclesfarm 5y ago
It’s ‘classic’ because it was recorded and the recent. Pointy hat witches mummies were found in China and dated 2-4 BCE. https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/ancient-mummies-of-the-tarim-basin/ https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/ancient-mummies-of-... [..] The Witches of Subeshi The most intriguing mummies in ECA may be the “witches” of Subeshi, who wear very tall, pointed black hats that resemble the iconic headgear of their sisters in medieval Europe. Subeshi, dated to between the 4th and 2nd centuries BCE, is located in a high gorge just to the east of the important city of Turfan. Historian and author Adrienne Mayor has recently suggested that the single heavy glove worn by one of the female mummies may indicate that she hunted with a raptor such as a golden eagle. A number of impressive male mummies have also been excavated at Subeshi, including a man who wears a felt helmet and another man whose chest has been stitched up with horse hair in what must be one of the oldest (4th century BCE) examples of surgery in the world.[..]
- colanderman 5y ago
  That reads like they were called "witches" by modern archaeologists, due to their pointy hats resembling that of the Western trope. Were they actually considered witches of any sort by their contemporaries?
paulbaumgart 5y ago
This article makes a pretty convincing argument that this connection, while a fun story, isn’t supported by the historical record: https://braciatrix.com/2017/10/27/nope-medieval-alewives-arent-the-archetype-for-the-modern-pop-culture-witch/ https://braciatrix.com/2017/10/27/nope-medieval-alewives-are...
Terry_Roll 5y ago
The tomato plant and its alkaloids were also experimented with, hence the witches potions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Plant_toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Plant_toxicity The Salem Witch trials is because the tomato was considered the devils fruit, but it was the plant alkaloids which caused the real trouble (hallucinogens) and libido raising, hence riding the broomstick. Even in the 1930's Bella Donna was used to dilate the pupils to make a woman more attractive but it could also hide Argyll Robertson Pupil (a sign of neurosyphilis) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_belladonna#Toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_belladonna#Toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyll_Robertson_pupil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyll_Robertson_pupil
- jelliclesfarm 5y ago
  salem witch trials happened right after an outbreak of rye ergot. Ergot is a fungus blight..can make one trip due to it's hallucinogenic effect. the accusers were tripping heavily. you are mixing up entirely different kinds of plants. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-clues-evidence/1501/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-clues-evidenc...
  - Terry_Roll 5y ago
    It might have been this trial (https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/americas-alleged-trial-against-tomatoes-not-witches-in-salem/ https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/americas-alleged-trial-ag...) which someone had confused with the earlier trial, which is what I was reading on a blog.
- Telemakhos 5y ago
  The Salem Witch trials were very recent; witches and fun drugs go much further back, as documented in Renaissance medical literature on "flying ointment" (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_ointment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_ointment for a pretty decent overview, albeit for some reason excluding medical texts and concentrating on esoteric and legal texts). It's a lipid-based ointment with some sort of drug, applied to the temples, causing either hallucinations or at least a "rushing" feeling and high accompanied by catatonia, as if the soul were flying around having left the body. It seems to have been used by women who were bored and wanted to feel like they were flying.

jelliclesfarm 5y ago

It’s ‘classic’ because it was recorded and the recent. Pointy hat witches mummies were found in China and dated 2-4 BCE. https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/ancient-mummies-of-the-tarim-basin/ https://www.penn.museum/sites/expedition/ancient-mummies-of-... [..] The Witches of Subeshi The most intriguing mummies in ECA may be the “witches” of Subeshi, who wear very tall, pointed black hats that resemble the iconic headgear of their sisters in medieval Europe. Subeshi, dated to between the 4th and 2nd centuries BCE, is located in a high gorge just to the east of the important city of Turfan. Historian and author Adrienne Mayor has recently suggested that the single heavy glove worn by one of the female mummies may indicate that she hunted with a raptor such as a golden eagle. A number of impressive male mummies have also been excavated at Subeshi, including a man who wears a felt helmet and another man whose chest has been stitched up with horse hair in what must be one of the oldest (4th century BCE) examples of surgery in the world.[..]

colanderman 5y ago
That reads like they were called "witches" by modern archaeologists, due to their pointy hats resembling that of the Western trope. Were they actually considered witches of any sort by their contemporaries?

paulbaumgart 5y ago

This article makes a pretty convincing argument that this connection, while a fun story, isn’t supported by the historical record: https://braciatrix.com/2017/10/27/nope-medieval-alewives-arent-the-archetype-for-the-modern-pop-culture-witch/ https://braciatrix.com/2017/10/27/nope-medieval-alewives-are...

Terry_Roll 5y ago

The tomato plant and its alkaloids were also experimented with, hence the witches potions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Plant_toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomato#Plant_toxicity The Salem Witch trials is because the tomato was considered the devils fruit, but it was the plant alkaloids which caused the real trouble (hallucinogens) and libido raising, hence riding the broomstick. Even in the 1930's Bella Donna was used to dilate the pupils to make a woman more attractive but it could also hide Argyll Robertson Pupil (a sign of neurosyphilis) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_belladonna#Toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atropa_belladonna#Toxicity https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyll_Robertson_pupil https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argyll_Robertson_pupil

jelliclesfarm 5y ago
salem witch trials happened right after an outbreak of rye ergot. Ergot is a fungus blight..can make one trip due to it's hallucinogenic effect. the accusers were tripping heavily. you are mixing up entirely different kinds of plants. https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-clues-evidence/1501/ https://www.pbs.org/wnet/secrets/witches-curse-clues-evidenc...
- Terry_Roll 5y ago
  It might have been this trial (https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/americas-alleged-trial-against-tomatoes-not-witches-in-salem/ https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/americas-alleged-trial-ag...) which someone had confused with the earlier trial, which is what I was reading on a blog.
Telemakhos 5y ago
The Salem Witch trials were very recent; witches and fun drugs go much further back, as documented in Renaissance medical literature on "flying ointment" (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_ointment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_ointment for a pretty decent overview, albeit for some reason excluding medical texts and concentrating on esoteric and legal texts). It's a lipid-based ointment with some sort of drug, applied to the temples, causing either hallucinations or at least a "rushing" feeling and high accompanied by catatonia, as if the soul were flying around having left the body. It seems to have been used by women who were bored and wanted to feel like they were flying.