The depiction of a witch riding a broomstick goes back a long way. It’s become a bit of an iconic image. It reminds us of Halloween and thanks to the Wizard of Oz, scared the pants off of us when we were children. But what’s the origin of the association of broomsticks and witches?
Well, there is a simple answer you might want to tell a child if they ask, and then there is the R-rated version.
The G-rated answer is that a witch’s broomstick was originally a symbol of female domesticity. Back in those days, most women were responsible raising children, cooking, cleaning, and upkeep of their home. They didn’t have vacuum cleaners but they always had their trusty broomstick close at hand. When people began claiming others were witches, brooms were often thought of as a “disguised tool of the trade” since nearly every woman had one nearby or in her possession.
The depiction of a witch riding a broomstick goes back a long way. It’s become a bit of an iconic image. It reminds us of Halloween and thanks to the Wizard of Oz, scared the pants off of us when we were children. But what’s the origin of the association of broomsticks and witches?
Well, there is a simple answer you might want to tell a child if they ask, and then there is the R-rated version.
The G-rated answer is that a witch’s broomstick was originally a symbol of female domesticity. Back in those days, most women were responsible raising children, cooking, cleaning, and upkeep of their home. They didn’t have vacuum cleaners but they always had their trusty broomstick close at hand. When people began claiming others were witches, brooms were often thought of as a “disguised tool of the trade” since nearly every woman had one nearby or in her possession.
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