Last weekend, I attended the Historic Irvington Halloween Festival in Irvington, Indiana. I attended this with my parents, sister, niece, and brother-in-law. People dressed up in costumes and enjoyed the Halloween season.
It was awesome.
There was a parade during the street fair portion of the festival. At the end of the parade, the Black Hat Society of Historic Irvington came out and danced. The Black Hats are a group of theatrical witches that promote being yourself.
Something about the Black Hats and seeing everyone in awe of them sparked something inside of me.
I have always been drawn to witches, both in and out of the Halloween context. For me, it all boils down to women being deemed “witches” for exhibiting out-of-the-ordinary behavior from what they were expected. To clarify, the women who would go against the social norms.
This is their time.
When you think of witches, you think of either Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba or an old woman in all black, a pointed hat, and green skin — right? Essentially, you think of evil women who do evil things with magic to cause fear or harm.
There are some “good” witches — like Marnie from the “Halloweentown” franchise and Glinda the Good Witch — but this isn’t about them.
It’s so much more than that. Women were called witches because they would defy orders from men. Some of them were accused of committing crimes. They were given this wicked name because they went against the societal expectation of being a quiet woman who only cared about her family and her faith.
Their resilience is celebrated widely, especially in the United States. In Salem, Massachusetts, the Halloween season revolves around the women who were persecuted from 1692 to 1693. The museums in Salem are educating people about what happened, and the town is buzzing with curiosity.
As beautiful as this is, it has its downsides that rub me the wrong way.
People flood Salem from August to October yearly for the “witchy attractions.” They treat the city of Salem like an amusement park instead of a place where people have built their lives. Some tourists don’t respect what happened in Salem and what it means now.
There is so much deep history within the borders of Salem, even after the last accused woman was hanged. The aftermath of the Salem Witch Trials displayed both the embarrassment and the hardships that come from an event like this.
Embarrassment and hardships that are still seen today.
When seeing things about the accused, my heart aches for them. During this time of year, I’m drawn to them because of their bravery during this period of their lives. Granted, I find some witchy things cool. However, this isn’t the entire reason I’m interested.
This Halloween, I will be raising my broom to the witches that survived, and the ones that didn’t. I will be celebrating them and how they started to pave the way for their female descendants.