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A broom
is a cleaning tool consisting of stiff fibres attached to, and roughly
parallel to, a cylindrical handle, the broomstick. In the
context of witchcraft, "broomstick" is likely to refer to the broom as a
whole.
History of broom design Brooms
have undergone significant changes in their construction, ever since they
evolved from ad-hoc use of branches and bundles of various natural fibres.
Originally, all brooms were round, a shape that is easy to construct but
inefficient for actually sweeping. Brooms
could be attached to a handle, either short for a whisk broom, or long for a
broom used to sweep the floor or fireplace. The
fibres used in modern brooms are from "broom corn," actually a variety of
sorghum, and are unusually well suited to brooms. They
are long, straight, durable, and bound together in the plant. The
most recent major change is the flat broom, invented by the Shakers in the
1800s. This
broom has far more width for pushing dirt and nearly all brooms produced
today are flat brooms, the round broom being essentially obsolete.
Brooms and witchcraft Brooms
have long been connected with witchcraft, almost universally portrayed as
medieval-style round brooms and associated with female witches. Some
people speculate that in the Middle Ages, women publicly accused of being
witches (or at least women with knowledge of herbology), did "ride" brooms. In such
accounts, a woman applied a layer of paste made out of trance-inducing
plants (such as belladonna) to the broomstick and straddled it as one would
a beast of burden to ride it, and this had the effect of applying the
hallucinogenic herb to the thin skin of the labia where it might be quickly
absorbed into the bloodstream.
However, due to the witchhunts and the general beliefs of the time,
little-to-no reliable information exists to corroborate this belief. Records
concerning witches of that time and their behavior are extremely unreliable,
often having been extracted under torture.
Anecdotally, the broom served another purpose during periods of persecution. Witches
and other magic practitioners would disguise their wands as broom sticks to
avoid suspicion. It is
also a tradition that brooms have been used by some as receptacles to harbor
temporarily a particular spirit. Today
the broom is included in lists of ritual tools in many pagan guide books,
where it is often referred to as a besom. A broom
is sometimes laid at the opening of some coven's rossets.
Representing the element air, brooms are utilized in the purification of
areas. They
are used to symbolically sweep ritual circles clean. The
high priestess or high priest walks clockwise, traces the cast circle and
sweeps with the broom a few inches off the ground. This
practice can be used in place of incense to purify a ritual space. It is
often employed by those allergic to incense, and during rituals practiced in
smoke free areas. It is
also a technique associated with "kitchen witches" who use what's on hand to
work spells. In many
works of fiction, broomsticks are pictured as a means of air transport for
witches. The
Harry Potter book series is distinctive in portraying magical flying brooms
as used equally by both sexes, and especially prominently by Quidditch
players as analogues of polo ponies. The
brooms can also be used for personal transport, although the rider must take
care not to be seen by non-magicians. Many
toys and costume accessories have been made in the form of brooms. In some
countries, a vibrating toy "Harry Potter Nimbus 2000 Broom" for 8-12
year-olds was marketed. It
became controversial, and was taken off the market. |
