Witches, it was believed, went unbelted.

[kleenexwoman]

Lookin' up Russian folklore and fairy tales, particularly death folklore. I love Baba Yaga stories, but I realized I haven't read that many, and I conflate Baba Yaga with the fairytale function of witches in general, which naturally has been highly informed by Grimm's fairytales. Russian folklore is amazing. I wish I still had Gail around so I could ask her stuff.

This is proving to be very useful.

Comments

[sir-dave.livejournal.com]

Have been researching the folklore and stuff. When one gets back to the Wild Hunt and all, and anything prior to the Roman invasion, it is not too far until the archaeology reveals that the 'superstitions' of the time required human sacrifice.

Recent excavations of so-called 'hill forts' (truly defended settlements) show that people were killed so as to be buried in symbolically important locations. So much for the back to nature brigade; folklore is fascinating stuff, but when we look for a rationale behind its early manifestations, it is not at all pleasant. It's homicidal.

[kleenexwoman.livejournal.com]

Oooooooooooooh. I'm not surprised at the human sacrifice stuff. Any books or papers you can point me to?

but when we look for a rationale behind its early manifestations, it is not at all pleasant. It's homicidal.
Terry Pratchett taught me this! It irks me sometimes how fairy tales and folklore and superstitions get whitewashed or handwaved away as silliness--our society places such an emphasis on rationality that it's sometimes hard to remember that "superstitions" were things that people lived and died by.