萬圣夜女巫的傳說

The witch， an iconic[標志性的] Halloween character， usually dressed all in black， with green skin， a tall pointy hat and flying a broomstick across a full moon. But witches aren’t just a Halloween cliché[陳詞濫調(diào)]. They’ve got a long and tumultuous[騷亂的] history that we bet you didn’t know.

Though many stereotypes[刻板形象] come from western culture， witchcraft[巫術(shù)] has existed around the world and throughout history， including Asian， African and many Native American societies.

Long before the advent[出現(xiàn)，到來] of science， witches were blamed for storms， accidents， disease and other bad things that happened. In Medieval[中世紀的] Europe， anywhere between 100，000 and 200，000 people were arrested[逮捕] on suspicion[懷疑] of witchcraft. About half of them were executed[處死]. And did you know the accused witches were not just women， but men too， and even some children.

Even after the witch hunts ended， western culture remained fascinated[使著迷] with witches. The witch-filled fairy tales of the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen inspired L. Frank Baum to create his modern fairy tale， The Wonderful Wizard of Oz， which featured the most famous witch in pop culture history， the Wicked[邪惡的] Witch of the West. And did you know， Baum didn’t intentionally[有意地] make the witch’s skin green in his book. But that’s how she appeared in the Technicolor film version in 1939， and the image stuck[固定].

And what about that tall， black pointy hat that witches wear？ Members of Europe’s upper classes wore similar hats during the 15th century， and the style later spread to commoners[平民]， the same poor country folk who were typically accused of paganism[異教] and witchcraft.

The broom， a common household tool， was used by pagans[異教徒] during ancient crop fertility[肥沃，豐饒] rites[儀式]. It later became a common symbol of witches， who were said to use their brooms to hide their wands[魔杖] during the witch hunts. People also believed that witches would rub a special ointment[油膏] into their brooms and use them to fly across the sky and perform their magic.

And did you know that witches still exist in modern times？ The modern form of witchcraft， known as Wicca， was founded in England in the 1950s. Its members worship nature， and a female deity[神]， known as The Goddess， and they take an oath[誓言] to do no harm with their magic. There are now more than 400，000 Wiccans in the United States， but you probably won’t recognize them on the street. They don’t wear pointy hats， and not a single one of them has green skin.

作為萬圣夜的標志性角色，女巫往往穿著一身黑衣，長著綠色皮膚，頭戴一頂尖帽，騎著掃帚在滿月前飛過。但女巫并不只是萬圣夜的老套傳說，她們有著漫長而動蕩的歷史，我們打賭你一定不知道。

盡管關(guān)于巫術(shù)的很多刻板形象來自西方文化，但其實巫術(shù)在世界各地，包括亞洲、非洲以及很多美洲土著的社會中存在已久。

在科學(xué)到來以前，女巫被指責(zé)為引發(fā)風(fēng)暴、意外、疾病和其他壞事的罪魁禍首。在中世紀的歐洲，約有10萬至20萬人因被懷疑施展巫術(shù)而被捕，她們當(dāng)中約有一半的人被處決。你知道嗎，被控告的巫師不只有女人，還有男人，甚至還有一些小孩。

即使在搜捕女巫的行動結(jié)束后，西方文化依然對女巫（題材）非常著迷。格林兄弟和漢斯·克里斯蒂安·安徒生的童話故事里充滿女巫的形象。受這些作品啟發(fā)的L. 弗蘭克·鮑姆創(chuàng)作出自己的現(xiàn)代童話——《綠野仙蹤》，里面就出現(xiàn)了流行文化中最為有名的女巫——“西方的惡女巫”。你知道嗎？鮑姆在書中可沒打算讓女巫長著一身綠色的皮膚。然而在1939年的特藝七彩電影版本中，她就以這個形象出現(xiàn)，并流傳至今。

那么，女巫們戴的那頂高高的黑色尖帽又是怎么回事？15世紀，歐洲上流社會的成員就戴類似的帽子，這種風(fēng)尚后來傳到普羅大眾，也就是被指控信奉異教和施行巫術(shù)的那些可憐的鄉(xiāng)下人。

在古代祈求作物豐收的儀式上，異教徒會使用掃帚這種普通的家居用品。后來它成為了女巫們的標志，因為據(jù)說在搜捕女巫的時候，她們會把魔杖藏在掃帚里。人們還認為，女巫會在掃帚里擦上一種特別的油膏，用它們飛上天空，施展魔法。

你知道嗎？女巫在現(xiàn)代社會依然存在。現(xiàn)代版的巫術(shù)叫做威卡（教），在20世紀50年代創(chuàng)建于英格蘭。其成員崇拜大自然，以及一位被稱作“女神”的女性神靈，她們起誓不以魔法傷害任何人或物。美國現(xiàn)在有超過40萬名威卡教徒，但你也許無法在街上認出他們。他們不戴尖帽，而且沒有一個人是長著綠色皮膚的。