WITCHCRAFT.

Hokitika Guardian, 8 April 1926, Page 1

WITCHCRAFT.

OLD WOMEN WHO “CAST SPELLS” LONDON, January 25. Many people have been astonished by the belief in witchcraft disclosed by the case hoard at Tipton Police Court, Staffordshire, on Tuesday. Two men were bound over for threatening a. woman van-dweller, named Haddington, whom they accused of casting a spell over certain of their women folk. A distinguished woman student of folklore said to a reporter yesterday that there is still a very widespread belief in witchcraft in out-of-the-way country places and among old-fnsliioned people. She added: “ It is not very openly talked about, and it is only when such cases as this arc heard that it comes to light, as a rule. I'n a good many villages to-day there are people, mostly old women, who are supposed to cast spells and cause illness to man and beast, and even death. Sometimes, people who think that they are suffering from a charm cast by a witch go to her and draw blood from her by scratching her. People believing themselves to he a, victim of a witch sometimes go to another “ wise woman,” as these witches are generally termed, and toll her about it. She generally gives to them a “ cure ” of some kind for the spell of the other woman and for this they pay her. One method of trying to get, rid of a curse cast by a witch is to obtain something belonging to her, and then to burn it. To burn a witch’s possessions is supposed to cause her pain. Many country folk to-day cam- charm against the ‘evil eye.’” “TOUCHING WOOD.” The Dean of Manchester, Dr Hewlett Johnson, said : “ Although it is the work of the Church to put down superstition, we all have our little superstitions. “Touching wood” is derived partly from the idea of touching the Cross, and the significance of placing a poker across the fire bars, to mako the fire burn up. although few women who do it know why, is to make the sign of the Cross. Walking under a ladder is avoided because 2,000 years ago condemned people at tho Tiber bad to walk under a ladder to execution. It is a common custom in the country to butter a cat’s feet when it is being given away to ensure that it will not make its way home again.” A Manchester doctor said that when he was called to a case of whooping cough, he found that the mother had baked a mouse in a pie, believing that this tit-bit would cure tho child. Not long ago a priest in northern France prosecuted some of his parishioners for assaulting him in the belief that he had the “evil eye,” which was killing their stock.