Within Swedish and Finland-Swedish popular belief the Easter witch is a seasonal manifestation of persons associated with witchcraft who travel by broom on the Thursday before Easter (Maundy Thursday or the night between Holy Wednesday and Thursday) to a mythic gathering-place called Blåkulla / Blockula / Blå Jungfrun. The motif is embedded in a calendar-based folk cosmology that fused older notions of witch-sabbaths and diabolic meetings with Christian Holy Week. During the 17th century, when witch persecutions occurred in Sweden, these beliefs informed household precautions and juridical responses; over subsequent centuries the figure transformed in popular culture into a largely performative, child-centered custom observed on Maundy Thursday, Holy Saturday or Palm Sunday (in certain Finnish contexts).
Traditional imagery depicts the Easter witch as an old woman (kärring / häxa) who flies on a broom to the meeting-place of Blåkulla; older accounts treat the witches as adults or youths who undertook nocturnal flights. In modern, secularized practice the figure is performed: originally adults and young people donned costume, but over time children most commonly dress as witches, old women or even in old men's clothing. Visual culture (postcards, colouring pages, decorations) preserves an archetypal costume of crone-like dress and broom imagery.
Folklore describes the Easter witch as capable of nocturnal flight on a broom to the sabbath-site of Blåkulla/Blockula/Blå Jungfrun on the Thursday before Easter and returning at Easter. Older accounts associate the gathering with meeting the Devil and with witches exploiting domestic resources while away or en route—households feared that witches might milk livestock or ride animals and might use available tools as travel implements. In contemporary custom the figure lacks the malevolent actions of earlier belief and is primarily performative, involving door-to-door greetings and exchange of cards or treats.
Weaknesses
- conditionlocked or secured doors and dampers
- conditionbarn doors secured/latched
- conditiontools put away (denial of implements usable for travel)
Wards
- ritualsecuring doors and dampers on Maundy Thursday
- ritualputting away tools on Maundy Thursday
- ritualsecuring barn doors to prevent milking or riding of animals
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Community Record
- [1]Easter witch. Wikipedia, 'Easter witch' entrywiki
- [2]Easter witch (Wikidata Q1516883). Wikidata entry Q1516883wiki
- [3]Blåkulla, Easter Witches (Sweden) | USC Digital Folklore Archives. USC Digital Folklore Archives, 'Blåkulla, Easter Witches (Sweden)'folk
- [4]Archive audio and cultural references (collection). Archive.org collection referenced in research notesother
- [5]Sweden: Easter in Sweden (official site). Official Sweden site: 'Easter in Sweden' (cultural overview)other