Witch Burning

How confused and backwards of a concept. First of all, the “witches”(Appendix 1) they were burning were, quite obviously, followers of the old religion, as shown by the descriptions by the persecutors. Their attempts to “purge the devil” and “free the witch’s soul” with the use of fire just serves to show their ignorance of other beliefs, and their refusal to see anything other than their own ways. Why, for example, would they do exactly to us what we do to our own dead? Was it some sick sense of irony, burning our living as we burn the dead? Or was it something less sinister? I, personally, do not believe that they are, or were, evil. Just misguided, scared and confused little people. They were not strong enough in their own beliefs to simply coexist. They were afraid that their followers would see our pagan way and start to flock to what is, quite simply, a better way of life. So, they had to remove the problem before they started to lose followers, and thus, power. But, I digress.

The irony behind their actions is the way they went about purging the “witches.” They burned them. You see, there are several facets to this. First and foremost is the fact that we had been burning people for hundreds of years before the spread of Christianity. But, like so many other things that are good and beautiful in the world, they stole and perverted it. If you are reading this, I’m sure you must have at least some minor knowledge of Norse and Germanic culture. Most people, particularly great warriors and leaders, were burned, either on a pyre or, when the situation called for it, a ship. It was a great honor to be burned. The fire purified your spirit, leaving you completely “white” (Appendix 2) and prepared you to serve Odin and the Aesir. The smoke from the pyre carried you and your soul (wyrd) to Asgardr and Valhalla. There you were able to live in happiness at the table of Odin as one of the Einherjar, until the time of Ragnarokk, where you had to fight Surtr and the demons of fire. It is a full cycle, where you are made able to fight fire, here representing the forces of ill, by being burned. The Christian idea was much the same, and is a fairly common idea throughout the world; purification by fire. It is a simple fact that fire purifies. You purify water by boiling it, and you purify steel through extreme heat. Many cultures burned the evil in order to utterly remove it from the world. The European ideal is unique in that being burned and made pure is a great honor. And, quite honestly, I prefer a belief system with more honor than terror.

Appendix 1: I say “witch,” because that is a foreign word. It is never a word we used to describe ourselves, or any others. I have reason to believe that it may have been a word they invented and utilized simply because of it’s harsh, wicked sound.

Appendix 2: To be made white, means to be made pure, or unsullied. Throughout our lives, we do things that displease the gods, but they understand this, as they make mistakes as well. However, no impure thing may enter Asgardr, so they burned the warriors, those who would be entering Valhalla, to fight for Odin. This purified their souls, making them white, and thus able to enter the hall. The idea that only Caucasian men may enter the realm of the gods evolved from this ritual.