THE FOLKLORE OF PLANTS: Broom

Lisa Karen Miller

          Every woman owned a broom; it was a completely innocent household tool. In the dark days of witch hunting, it was difficult for accusers to discern exactly who was a witch, since all women had access to the preferred means of transport.

           In fact, connecting satanic practices to the most commonplace of female implements was a convenient way of implying that women themselves were to be feared. 

          And those whom we fear, we persecute.

          The Asiatic Register for 1801reports that Eastern and European witches “practice their spells by dancing at midnight, and the principle instrument they use on such occasions is a broom.”

          The broom could even be used as a potent counter-charm against hags – it was widely believed in England and Germany that no witch can cross a threshold where a besom has been laid. In Westphalia at Shrovetide, white besoms with white handles were tied to cows’ horns, and they were similarly employed in midsummer celebrations.

          In Bohemia, young men would collect all the worn-out brooms in the village, dip them in tar, and light all the midsummer fires with them, running from one to another. When they were burnt out, they were placed in the fields as a charm against blight.

          The long stems of the broom plant were cut and tied together to make floor brooms, or besoms. They had to be dried first, as using flowering blooms meant the master of the house might be swept away with the dust!

          The broom was associated with the wind; throwing it into the air would raise the wind, while burning it and burying the ashes would calm it.  This may be how it became associated with flying witches.

          In Hamburg, after a ship had fought a contrary wind, the sailors would toss and old broom before an oncoming ship, to reverse the wind.

          In the Ogham calendar, broom is the twelfth month, and falls between October 28 and November 24, giving it a close association with Samhain, or Halloween.

          The ancient Celts, a nomadic people, allowed broom to tell them when it was time to move on. When the yellow flowers bloomed in March, they knew that winter was over and it was time to move on to pastures new.

          How different the history of witchcraft would look if the flying implement of choice had been a hammer, a shovel, or a plow.

Copyright 2023 Lisa Karen Miller