BOO II

Happy Halloween!

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This lovely, "The Spinner,"  is a woodcut by Hans Holbein the Younger (1497?-1543), best known for his portraits with lush and exquisite textile detail, as with the older Hal here, and for his woodcuts of the Dance of Death.

That giant distaff of hers, stuck full of full spindles, has gotten me to thinking about witches and their broomsticks.  While contemporary images of witches flying on their brooms shows the broom portion behind the witch, earlier images sometimes show the "broom" portion in front of the witch.  Perhaps witches don't fly on broomsticks at all, but on distaves.  What say you?

Comments

[Ulrike]

Sorry for the late commenting, but here's another info about the witches/broom/distaff post.
The germanic Goddess Frigg (not Freyja!) has a distaff as her symbol. Orion's belt was supposed to be her star constellation, and in Scandinavia it is/was called 'Frigg's Distaff'. Spinning was seen as a possible means of magical performance, and I could prove that with Edda and further Islandic Saga quotings if you wish.
There is also a picture of the Goddess Frigga in the Dom at Schleswig (Northern Germany), showing her on a broom. So, your thoughts on brooms being distaffs make perfect sense.
Greetings from Germany,
Ulrike

[Linda]

Hm. That's not a purse around her neck; that's the top part of an apron hanging loosely and belted or otherwise tied at the waist. And the "paintbrush" is the knife that most common people and all noble men carried (in one form or another). But I'm just a medievalist...

[Carrie]

Interesting! I'd love to explore that idea more. Thanks for sharing!
~fellow spindlitis subscriber

[Diane]

thanks, Marcy, for the image. Love the idea of the distaff/broom/witch concept.

[Manise]

My mother was a printmaker and made many woodcuts in her time, so I'm partial to them. The one on the top has such lovely detail- fairy tale like.

[CateK]

I do like this idea as Witches were the healers and midwives of the day. I would also like to believe them to be productive sorts who could spin magick. Flying ointment (hallucinogenic cream that probably worked a bit like today's ecstacy) was supposively used at times to allow these folks (men and women) to enjoy fertility rites. They probably thought they were flying or thought they saw other people flying...

[fibergal]

So she has one purse around her neck with strap hanging and another at her hip with a hanging paint brush. But me, I like those tasty shoes.

[danana]

Wow, I looked at the web address Carol provided - neat! Both of these pictures are intriguing; I love the first one, it looks very modern and fanciful, not something created so long ago. The second one - good theory, I would suggest the picture is historically accurate, we have changed and adapted a lot of stories and ideas over time. Thank you for sharing your wonderful finds! Happy Hallowe'en!

[frog princess]

One in the center background appears to be flying a rake--or could that be some kind of flax gathering or flaying device? Could be they flew whatever phallic symbol/tool was lying around the farm when the call to gather round came down.

Does the downhill facing devil on the left of the table seem to be carrying a bag on a pole--like a hobo's bag? What is that, can you tell?

[Sylvia]

I will never look at my distaff the same way again!

[Laurie]

That is stunning art. The detail, the execution, the composition....wow.

[Judy]

This makes perfect sense to me. Not only with the spinners distaff but also the shepherdess with crook. Picture in my mind of wind blown woman, spinning while tending her flock. Works for me... Happy Halloween!

[dale-harriet in WI]

oh! I feel a new "traditional" fairy tale coming on! Excellent theory, strong hypothesis - and an awfully good element for a story! Thank you!!

[Beth S.]

Holy moley, that's some distaff! I know fiber is very light, but it looks like that contraption weighs about forty pounds.

And I love your theory.

[ninly]

Wholesome notion!? I don't know about you-all, but I whiz around on my distaff all the time. It's a lunar-powered nimbus 2000.

Heh, in all seriousness, I love this idea. Especially fed with classical (read: pagan) notions about the Fates, it makes perfect sense that spinning imagery could get "sinisterized" in the early Christian era, but then divided from spinning itself (in broom form) as Western culture developed and further depended on spindled yarn.

[Em]

I would completely support your theory! That 2nd picture has one witch in the bottom left with a trident-like "broomstick", which now that you've got me thinking in that direction really could be a forked distaff, or a tow-fork! Really neat idea, thanks for sharing the pictures, as always!

[benedetta]

beautiful images!
aren't witches frequently associated with spinning in fairy tales anyway?
flying on a distaff makes perfect sense!

[Freyalyn]

And some traditions have witches flying on stalks of yarrow - which is very interestng in the light of the folklore associated with and the medicinal uses of that particular plant.

I always thought it would be much more comfortable to sit ON the broom part, rather than the stick.

[Sharon]

I'd rather not think that the imagery for witches comes from spinners - kinda wrecks my wholesome notion of the craft.

[cyndy]

Perfect! Love it!

Now you have me wondering at what point and where this may have happened....

oh no, I feel myself falling down a rabbit hole!

[Michelle]

Hehe, I'm more than willing to accept that theory.

[janel]

Hmmm... interesting idea. And it looks like in the second picture showing flying with the head of the broom in front and back, the one on the right side that looks like a pitchfork? That is a common distaff style. You may be onto something sherlock!

[margene]

Oh yes, I've heard of and seen pictures of brooms in front. It makes perfect sense they would be distaffs.

[carol]

Lovely woodcut!

And then there is this to consider:

http://neon.chem.uidaho.edu/~swett/tap.96/trey.html

[Carole]

Hmmm. Interesting theory. I'm intrigued.