Witchcraft And Demonology In Europe

Witchcraft And Demonology In Europe The witch-hunts were one of the most important events in the history of early modern Europe, taking place from the mid-15th century and ending in the mid-18th century. The view of witchcraft evolved throughout the period, with the Canon Episcopi calling the belief in witches a heresy, to Pope Innocent VIII issuing a bull in 1484 to denounce the practice of witchcraft as a heresy all in a span of about 500 years. On the topic of witchcraft, it is unavoidable that the issue of gender would be discussed. The central question of this report would be how historians account for the persecution of more women than men in the witch-hunts in early modern Europe. The report will first outline the stereotype of a witch and discuss how this stereotype was promulgated. It will be concerned with two possible explanations that attempt to account for the persecution of more women than men firstly, how the persecutions may be a results of a misogynistic and patriarchal culture, and secondly, how the hunts may be been a result of the lack of tolerance for social deviance of women. The Stereotype Of A Witch A collection of statistics indicate that a majority of accused witches were women, with most estimates pointing to about 80% of all victims being women (Ross, 1995: 334). Levack (1987: 142) provides a list of statistics indicating that in most regions in Europe, about three-quarters of the accused were women, with the figures being 90% in regions in Poland and England. Very evidently, the predominant notion of a witch is that it is foremost a woman. In discussing the stereotype of a witch it is difficult not to make reference to the cumulative concept of witchcraft (Levack, 1987: 32-51), which points to certain factors that would help in the identification of a witch. These include a witchs association with the Devil, the pact with the Devil, the Sabbath, nightflying and metamorphosis. Reginald Scot in 1584 described witches as women who were â€Å"commonly old, lame, blearie-eied, pale, fowle, and full of wrinkles, poore, sullen, and superstitious†. This stereotype was promulgated by both genders. Women in early modern Europe were viewed as the weaker gender that was dependent on men in many ways, including for livelihood (Larner, 1984:86). Since the society was heavily patriarchal, women who did not fit in to the mould of a normal woman threatened the idea of females behaving in a particular manner. These women were nonconformists, and therefore put the livelihoods of other women at risk. Hence, they were ostracised by normal women. In behaving in a manner that was different, these women also threatened male domination and therefore had to be condemned by men. Both genders fed the idea that a woman who looked and behaved in a certain manner was a witch, hence allowing the stereotype to persist and spread. In addition, the stereotype of a domestic witch could have been said to be reinforced by a vicious cycle. This is evident in some cases, such as in that of Anna Schwayhofer, who confessed to stealing the Consecrated Host but still bothered to sweep up the crumbs after she had done so (Barry, Hester and Roberts, 1996: 230). The association of witches and broomsticks or distaffs used for spinning also fed the stereotype. Women were mostly restricted to the confines of their allotted spaces, and those practicing harmful magic would most likely be found in those spaces (Blà ©court, 2000: 303). Hence, it was not surprising that witchcraft was associated with the women and their domestic activities. Gendered Witchcraft And Misogyny The elite perception of women pointed to how they tended to be intellectually weaker than men, yet have more insatiable sexual appetites and a higher tendency to pursue the occult, a view propounded by 16th century friar Martin de Castaà ±ega and in the Malleus itself by Kramer and Sprenger. Hence, historical literature tended to point towards how women were the more inferior of the two genders, and therefore had the larger propensity to be driven towards becoming a witch. Without a doubt, the society in Europe at that point of time was one that was highly patriarchal in nature (Hufton, 1983, 125-141). While the society was essentially patriarchal in nature, there are arguments as to whether this can be extended to be characterised as being misogynistic. Anderson and Gordon (1978) point to the innate inferiority that women possessed in the eyes of the Roman Catholic Church, the dominant religious authority in that time, saying that the Church saw women as more â€Å"amenable to the allures of Satan† (Anderson and Gordon, 1978: 174). The paper also highlights the role of the Malleus Maleficarum (1486), that was anti-feminist and very popular, reprinting fourteen editions. The Malleus essentially highlights women as creatures possessing insatiable lust, yet not having the strength of mind to counter the temptations of the Devil. However, statistics also show that women were not the only ones who were victims of the witch-hunts. In several regions, men were the ones who were heavily persecuted instead. Regions such as Finland show a relatively even number of male and female persecutions, while in areas such as Normandy and Iceland, the number of accused male witches far exceeded the number of female ones. This clearly shows that if there had been a culture of misogyny, it was not uniformed throughout Europe. Monter (1964: 563) points out that the stereotypical witch in the French province of Normandy was not a poor, old woman, but a shepherd who may be a youth or an old man. Similarly, in Iceland, only 8% of all the accused witches were women (Levack, 1987: 142). The analysis and discussion of these statistics seem to point to the fact that there were differences in societal perspectives towards women and the differences in questioning techniques (Monter, 1964: 588). Monter (1964: 589) suggests that women wer e treated with leniency during the trial, and some were kept in prison alive for interrogation, even while the men were being executed. The reasons behind why men were more persecuted in some societies and women in others are unclear, but most historians point to the fact that it was impossible to pinpoint a particular reason in every society why this was so. Much of the reasons behind the gender imbalances must be attributed to the culture and views of the society itself, but what can be certain is that the witch-hunt was not strictly gender-specific. Without a doubt, a society that places emphasis on patriarchal values cannot be dismissed as misogynistic simply based on statistics alone. At this point it is relevant to note that there were differences between the elite and peasant conceptions of witchcraft, and this extended to the persecution of women. For the peasantry, the persecution of witches was less of the pact with the Devil and more of practical concerns such as the failure of crops or the death of livestock (Laurence, 1995: 216-218). Similarly, with the persecution of women, the concerns circled around the fact that babies and young children were being â€Å"victims† of maleficia, rather than the witch being a Devil-worshipper per se. Unsurprisingly, therefore, a large number of women who were accused of being witches were the lying-in maids for more privileged families, who looked after the newborns and had direct contact with them, as in the case of Anna Ebeler of Augsburg (Roper, 1991: 19). Roper (1991: 23) also points to how this may be a result of the association of femineity and maternity. Normal women were able to have children, yet witches w ere unable to, leading to a sense of envy that bred the feeling of hatred towards mothers and their babies. Strands Of Deviance One of the central themes occurring in the witch-hunts would have to be the fact that the society in early modern Europe had very little tolerance for those who were different from them. Jews and homosexuals were persecuted, and the society was predominantly peasant, poor and part of the Roman Catholic Church. Those who were different were frowned upon. Women generally married and had children at a young age, were uneducated and viewed as weak. Their primary purpose was to be subservient to their husbands and serve their families, keeping the household. This view of women can be contrasted to the stereotype of a witch, as mentioned above. Being old and unmarried, as well as being socially isolated, these alleged witches were evidently different from the general conception of a woman in society. Larner (1981:92) puts forward the idea that witches were persecuted not because they were women, but because they were â€Å"non-women† who did not fit into the societal view of a woman. While a typical woman was maternal, witches were unable to have children; where typical women stayed home at nights, witches flew to remote locations to join Sabbaths. This fit in with the elite conceptions that the reality in which witches lived in was essentially one that was an anti-society. Blà ©court (2000: 300) explains that God was a â€Å"guardian of social norms†, while the Devil was just the very opposite. These â€Å"non-women† were persecuted for disobeying the social norms, and some historians even argue that women accused other women of being witches because they felt threatened by an individual who did not conform to the male image of them (Larner, 1981: 102). The role of the Roman Church was also not to be ignored in the reinforcement of this stereotype. Women ha d an increased likelihood to practice love magic as compared to men (Blà ©court, 2000: 303), and since only priests of the Church could legally practice magic, they were more likely to be persecuted as a result. Remote Possibilities While the possible presence of a repressive patriarchy or a societal aversion to deviant behaviour have often been cited as the reasons behind the gender imbalance during the witch-hunts, there are a few other remote possibilities that will be mentioned in the passing. Scully (1995: 857-858) points to how Venetian witches could choose witchcraft as a career option as opposed to being married or forced into prostitution, and this could be an escape from a possibly malevolent life, thereby proving to be a popular alternative for women in the region at that time. In his paper, Goodare (1991: 291-292) argues that economic factors could have been one of the reasons for the witch-hunts. Since the people had fallen upon hard times, those dependent upon charity handouts were hostile to others who were their competition and these were mainly women. Another article by Ross (Ross, 1995: 333-337) draws an interesting correlation between the outbreak of syphilis in the 16th century and the perse cution of more women than men. He posits that women, being the symbols of fertility, could be shunned due to syphilis as they would be spreading the venereal disease. Further, much of the witchs behaviour, he says, could be attributed to the madness that is a symptom of the disease. While fascinating, these observations by historians seem to be unique suggestions that do not appear in the literature as main causes for the increased persecution of women. Conclusion To conclude, this report has outlined the stereotype of a witch and what perpetrated this stereotype throughout early modern Europe. It seems persuasive to argue that although there was a strong patriarchal society in those days, this culture did not amount to being misogynistic in nature. The stereotype of the witch that emerge during this period and that was adopted by most modern historians emphasise a few features of witches that generally seem to be a result of the lack of tolerance for social deviant behaviour, and simply reinforced time and again in a vicious cycle. The trend points to the fact that there are a variety of factors that resulted in more women being persecuted than men. Often, this phenomenon can only be attributed to the differences in the various societies in Europe, and the culture of the region or country. Ultimately, it can be concluded that a combination of factors led to more women being persecuted than men. References Anderson, Alan and Gordan, Raymond. 1978. ‘Witchcraft and the Status of Women The Case of England. The British Journal of Sociology, Vol. 29, No. 2: 171-184. Barry, Jonathan, Hester, Marianne and Roberts, Gareth. 1999. Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe: Studies in Culture and Belief (Past and Present Publications). Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. de Blà ©court, Willem. 2000. ‘The Making of a Female Witch. Gender and History, Vol. 12, No. 2: 125-141. Goodare, Julian. 1998. ‘Women and the Witch-Hunt in Scotland. Social History, Vol. 23, No. 3: 288-308. Hufton, Olwen. 1983. ‘Women in History. Early Modern Europe. Past Present, No. 101: 125-141. Larner Christina. 1981. Enemies of God: The Witch-Hunt in Scotland. London: Chatto Windus. Larner, Christina. 1984. Witchcraft and Religion: The Politics of Popular Belief. New York: Basil Blackwell. Laurence, Anne. 1995. Women in Engliand, 1500-1760, A Social History. London: Weidenfeld Nicolson Illustrated. Levack, Brian. 1987. The Witch-hunt in Early Modern Europe. Harlow: Pearson Education Limited. Monter, Williams. 1997. ‘Toads and Eucharists: The Male Witches of Normandy, 1564-1660. French Historical Studies, Vol. 20, No. 4: 563-595. Ross, Eric B. 1995. ‘Syphilis, Misogyny, and Witchcraft in 16th-Century Europe. Current Anthropology, Vol. 36, No. 2: 333-337. Sawyer, Ronald C. 1989. ‘Strangely Handled in All Her Lyms: Witchcraft and Healing in Jacobean England. Journal of Social History, Vol. 22, No. 3: 461-485. Scully, Sally. 1995. ‘Marriage or a Career?: Witchcraft as an Alternative in Seventeenth-Century Venice. Journal of Social History, Vol. 28, No. 4: 857-876. Primary sources: Darst, David H. 1979. ‘Witchcraft in Spain: the Testimony of Martin de Castaà ±egas Treatise on Superstition and Witchcraft (1529). Kramer, Heinrich and Sprenger James. 1484. Malleus Maleficarum. Accessed 6 October 2009. Available at http://www.malleusmaleficarum.org/. Scot, Reginald. 1584. The Discoverie of Witchcraft. Retrieved from Early English Books Online. The practice of harmful magic

Chalk Dust, Cinnamon Spice and Coffee Ground as Insect Repellants Essay

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY: There are several household problems we and our helpers encounter at home. These may be issues regarding food supply and storage, cleanliness and sanitation. One of the most common problems is the presence of household ants, especially the red ones, causing a disturbance in our own system of food storage. Red household ants do not only infest stored food in the kitchen but also bite our skin and destroy well- landscaped gardens by building ant hills. Because of this observation, we decided on conducting a study that would eliminate ants with the use of alternative substances that can also be found at home. With this study, we will not only discover other uses and benefits of household waste products but also provide new ways of promoting clean and sanitized homes by eliminating insects. Once proven effective, chalk dust which is one waste product in the classroom, will also be of good use at home. OBJECTIVE: The study aims to find more possible uses of household waste products aside from remaining as garbage such as coffee grounds, and discover further and effective use of chalk dust. Also, we aim to eliminate household insect especially ants that would cause a nuisance in our kitchen. DEFINITION OF TERMS: Talcum Powder- an ingredient in both chalk and baby powder, and is a natural ant repellant. Brewed Coffee- coffee produced from a process with the use of coffee maker wherein hot water drips onto coffee grounds held in a coffee filter made of paper, plastic, or perforated metal, allowing the water to seep through the ground coffee while extracting its oils and essences. The liquid drips through the coffee and the filter into a carafe or pot, and the spent grounds are retained in the filter. Coffee ground- is the used bitter powdered coffee that remains in a pot or coffee-maker after brewing your  coffee. HYPOTHESIS: All three substances tested will give significant results in repelling ants. VARIABLES: INDEPENDENT| CONTROLLED| * 50 grams of coffee ground * 50 grams of cinnamon spice * 50 grams of chalk dust| * Similar area where the three experiments will be conducted, same length * The same ant pathway where the substances will be placed * 1-3 tbsp. of sugar | Resulting Variable: Time it takes for the ants to move away from the repellants CHAPTER II RELATED LITERATURE Ant and Its Symbolism â€Å"Chinese consider and identified ant as the â€Å"righteous insect† and attribute orderliness, virtue and patriotism. On the other hand, Muslims consider the ant as the earthly teacher of Solomon and an embodiment of wisdom.† (Retrieved from http://sherryandrea.com/ant-symbolism-and-meaning/) http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/1570-ant-in-jewish-literature-the: â€Å"In the Old Testament, the Ant is referred to as some harvesting species which are to this day found in Syria and all around the Mediterranean basin. These species wherever they are found, as the latest investigations of naturalists have proved, lay up stores for the winter. In the Tamuldic Literature, The ant was mentioned being experimented by Simon ben Halafta to ascertain whether they inhabit without a ruler. Also, it was mentioned that ants procure food. There were also statements in the Book of Proverbs where it is pointed out that the wisdom of the Creator is manifested in the fitness of the body and wonderful life of the Ant.† â€Å"From a purely scientific point of view, the Ant is treated by Gershon ben  Solomon, in his work, â€Å"Sha’ar ha-Shamayim.† The Ant, he says, gathers its wheat in the harvest, biting off the germs of the grains in order to prevent them from sprouting and thus preserving them from rotting- a fact verified by recent observation. The Ant, he says further, is proportionately the strongest of all creatures, being able to carry from two to four times its own weight. Moreover, it can move both ways, forward and backward.† History of Brewing Coffee In the early history of coffee, the coffee beans were dried and eaten. By the 16th century, coffee was roasted before being ground and boiled in water. The entire resulting mixture of liquid and grounds would be consumed. The invention of the Ibrik (A small pot used in brewing and serving Turkish coffee that was invented in the late 16th century.) allowed for a more skillful technique of brewing. In the 18th century, the French developed the drip brewing technique wherein coffee is produced by using a cloth bag as a filter to separate grounds from the liquid coffee. This technique allowed for steeping the coffee at a lower temperature as it was not brewed while constantly adding heat. (Retrieved from http://coffee.wikia.com/wiki/Brewing) Chalk in Prehistoric Times As found in nature, chalk has been used for drawing since prehistoric times, when, according to archaeologists, it helped to create some of the earliest cave drawings. Later, artists of different countries and styles used chalk mainly for sketches, and some such drawings, protected with shellac or a similar substance, have survived. Chalk was first formed into sticks for the convenience of artists. The method was to grind natural chalk to a fine powder, then add water, clay as a binder, and various dry colors. The resultant putty was then rolled into cylinders and dried. Although impurities produce natural chalk in many colors, when artists made their own chalk they usually added pigments to render these colors more vivid. Carbon, for example, was used to enhance black, and ferric oxide (Fe 2 O 3 ) created a more vivid red. CHAPTER III METHODOLOGY 1. Gather the variables needed. You can find cinnamon spice in your kitchen. If not, you may use any spice available (e.g. pepper, black pepper, garlic). Collect coffee grounds after brewing coffee with the use of a coffee maker. Collect chalk dust from other classrooms. Measure the quantity and make sure that each one reaches the same amount- 50 grams. 2. Choose an area at home where you can find an ants’ pathway and measure its length. This will also be one of the controlled variables in the experiment. 3. Make sure that there are ants present. If none, place a few pinches of sugar or food crumbs to attract the ants. 4. Once the ants are present, choose among the three substances to be placed first along the path and put it evenly making a thin line. 5. Record the time it takes for the ants to leave the place. 6. Repeat steps three to five with the use of the other two substances and record the results on the Table of Data and Observation below. You may also take pictures du ring the experiment.

Victor Hugo †Les Miserables

Victor Marie Hugo was the son of a general in Napoleon’s army, and much of his childhood was therefore spent amid the backdrop of Napoleon’s campaigns in Spain and in Italy. The first three years of his life were spent in Elba, where he learnt to speak the Italian dialect spoken in the island in addition to his mother tongue. Victor got a little education in a small school. At the age of eleven, Hugo returned to live with his mother in Paris, where he got a little education in a small and where he also became infatuated with books and literature.By the time he was fifteen, he had already submitted one poem to a contest sponsored by the prestigious French Academy. There he learnt much from an old soldier, General Lahorie, who, obnoxious to Napoleon for the share he had taken in Moreau's plot, lived secretly in the house, and from an old priest named Lariviere, who came every day to teach Victor and his two brothers. In 1815, at the age of thirteen, he was sent to a board ing school to prepare for the Ecole Polytechnique. But he devoted himself, even at school, to verse-writing with greater ardour than to study.He wrote in early youth more than one poem for a prize competition, composed a romance which some years later he elaborated into the story Bug Jargal, and in 1820, when only eighteen, joined his two brothers, Abel and Eugene, in publishing a literary journal called Le Conservateur Litteraire. Hugo published his first novel the year following his marriage (Han d'Islande, 1823) and his second three years later (Bug-Jargal, 1826). By the end of 1822 Victor Hugo was fully launched on a literary career, and for twenty years or more the story of his life is mainly the story of his literary output.Because of his successful drama Cormwell, the preface to which, with its note of defiance to literary convention, caused him to be definitely accepted as the head of the Romantic School of poetry. The revolution of 1830 disturbed for a moment his literary a ctivity, but as soon as things were quiet again he shut himself in his study with a bottle of ink, a pen, and an immense pile of paper. For six weeks he was never seen, except at dinner-time, and the result was : The Hunchback of Notre-Dame (1831).During the next ten years four volumes of poetry and four dramas were published in 1841 came his election to the Academy, and in 1843 he published Les Burgraves, a drama which was less successful than his former plays, and which marks the close of his career as a dramatist. In the same year there came to him the greatest sorrow of his life. His most famous poem was ‘Demain, des l’aube’ in which he describes the crucial moment where he visits his daughters grave. As Hugo grew older, his politics became increasingly leftist, and he was forced to flee France in 1851 because of his opposition to the monarch Louis Napoleon.Hugo remained in exile until 1870, when he returned to his home country as a national hero. He continue d to write until his death in 1885. He was buried with every conceivable honor in one of the grandest funerals in modern French history. The Book – Les Miserable : Hugo began writing Les Miserables twenty years before its eventual publication in 1862. His goals in writing the novel were as lofty as the reputation it has subsequently acquired; Les Miserables is primarily a great humanitarian work that encourages compassion and hope in the face of adversity and injustice.It is also, however, a historical novel of great scope and analysis, and it provides a detailed vision of nineteenth-century French politics and society. By coupling his story of redemption with a meticulous documentation of the injustices of France’s recent past, Hugo hoped Les Miserables would encourage a more progressive and democratic future. Driven by his commitment to reform and progress, Hugo wrote Les Miserables with nothing less than a literary and political revolution in mind.Les Miserables emp loys Hugo’s style of imaginative realism and is set in an artificially created human hell that emphasizes the three major predicaments of the nineteenth century. Each of the three major characters in the novel symbolizes one of these predicaments: Jean Valjean represents the degradation of man in the proletariat, Fantine represents the subjection of women through hunger, and Cosette represents the atrophy of the child by darkness. In part, the novel’s fame has endured because Hugo successfully created characters that serve as symbols of larger problems without being flat devices.

Sleep Deprivation Is A Wide Spread Phenomenon - 1277 Words

Sleep is one of our most basic physiological needs and getting enough of it is paramount to keeping our bodies and minds functioning at optimal performance. The amount of sleep needed varies and decreases by age. From 12-18 hours needed by a newborn to 7-9 hours needed by a health adult. The basal sleep need varies by individual with some people requiring more or less sleep than others (Czeisler 2014). When an individual does not get enough sleep they enter a state of sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation elicits a wide range of negative physiological effects, most notably sleep deprivation adversely effects cognition. Unfortunately insufficient sleep is a wide-spread phenomenon. A study by Hublin (2001) found sleep deficits in one fifth of†¦show more content†¦It is no surprise that sleep deprivation results in accidents when the long list of cognitive performance effects is examined. Some of the observed effects include: involuntary micro-sleeps, increased errors in attenti on-intensive performance, cognitive slowing and errors in subject-paced tasks, slowed response times, a decline in short-term recall and working memory performances, reduced learning (acquisition) in cognitive tasks, deterioration of tasks requiring divergent thinking, increased effort to remain behaviorally effective, performance deterioration as task duration increases, and loss of situational awareness. When sleep deprivation occurs through acute total sleep deprivation or chronic partial sleep restriction attention (particularly vigilance) and working memory are considerably reduced. Long-term memory and decision making are also impaired (Alhola 2007). The frontal lobe is linked to the functioning of both attention and working memory, both falling under the umbrella of executive functioning. Executive performance functions promoted by the prefrontal cortex working jointly with the anterior cingulate and posterior parietal systems are particularly vulnerable to sleep loss. Change s in both cortical and subcortical neural processing were demonstrated by a study examining both neuroimaging (fMRI) and electrophysiological (EEG ERPs) measures (Alhola 2007). In addition to the macro effects displayed by sleep loss, effects at the molecular level are also