PARADIMENSION ARTICLE :.

WITCHCRAFT IN SPAIN

  Posted Mar 30.05

(Original headline: The weird and the wonderful: witchcraft in Spain)

The woman had already been put to The Question, and had confessed to practising witchcraft; for this, she was given the mercy of strangulation before burning.

She fainted when she saw the stake and the piled faggots, and was quickly despatched before being burned, with the full approval and sanction of both church and local authority.

Galacia, 1936 – the last legal witch-burning in Spain.

Old habits die hard, in Spain. In this thriving, European democracy, most towns still possess not only a massive degree of home-grown superstition, but, in many cases, even a practising Bruja, a white witch.

How can this be, in a nation renowned throughout the world for its almost fanatical dedication to Roman Catholicism, the birthplace of both the notorious Inquisition, and even of Opus Dei?

Father Diego Vicente, 67, has been a parish priest for over 40 years, and has considered this long and hard.

"When Granada finally surrendered to Ferdinand and Isabella in 1492, the Christian reconquest of Spain was complete.

"But how to unite a nation notorious for internecine feuding? It seemed simple; it was far too early for the people to be united by nationality, so Their Most Catholic Majesties united it by faith.

"Whether you came from Castille or Aragon, Leon or Andalucia – you were first and foremost a Roman Catholic; the faith came before anything, and the conquistadores carried the faith with them, to the New World."

"But a great many of the people were not naturally Christian,” he believes. "They had to have Catholicism enforced upon them, hence the need for the Inquisition. That is why, in times of upheaval, the Spanish people turn on the church very easily."

Spain’s legacy is Carthaginian, Roman, Gothic, Moorish and Christian – hardly surprisingly, she has inherited a plethora of superstitions, from each successive prevailing culture.

One of the most enduring, a legacy from her distant Phoenician past, is the relative obsession with fire.

In Galacia, especially, this persists even today, in the Queimada ceremonies, when the Aguardiente, a strong distillation of grape skins, coffee beans, fruit and sugar is ritually set ablaze, scooped from its bowl and poured and re-poured until columns of fire seem to run from the ladle.

All the while, a ritual incantation is declaimed, invoking owls, witches, demons, dwarves and so forth, and the ‘Flames of Purgatory’, before the drink is consumed.

An ancient custom? Of course, but partaken of by all visiting dignitaries, from the prime minister down, right up to the present day, especially on 2 November, All Souls Day, when the souls of the departed are liberated from Purgatory.

But behind the traditional Spanish devotion to the Church lies always the shadow of the Bruja, the White Witch, whose influence is hidden, but accepted in many areas.

It is she who can cure sunstroke, remove eczema, even cure stomach aches, and who can remove the Mal de Ojo, the evil eye. (This can be avoided by wearing a red ribbon, or even by wearing your underwear back to front! More commonly, it is warded off by wearing the Cruz de Caravaca, a double cross, rather like the Cross of Lorraine in France.)

Along the Mediterranean coastline, the old beliefs go back to the Phoenician occupation, when Carthage was pre-eminent.

These include the lingering remains of fire-worship, surviving today in the Hugueras, the ritual burning of huge figures of wood and papier-mache.

Further north, in Galacia or Navarre, the traditions are Celtic, similar to those found even today in Brittany, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

It is here that the Witch is strongest, although the cults have spread across Spain.

In Navarre, every year, at the time of the summer solstice, there takes place the Akeleres, the great, and highly secretive convention of Brujas, when hundreds come together from right across Spain, to celebrate their sabbath – discreetly known today as a 'convention'.

These, traditions as old as Spain, survived even the persecution of the Inquisition, and the suppressions under the Franco regime, but they are re-emerging today all across Spain.

Dolores Ybanez Angulo, 43, is a graduate of Madrid University, and an accountant by profession.

She knows much about modern witchcraft in Spain, for Dolores, attractive, urbane, well-dressed, is a Bruja, as was her mother before her.

"Bruja may mean ‘witch’," she told us, "But it is very different from the English idea.

"We are white witches, we are here to help people. Yes, we do believe that people can have the Mal de Ojo, the Evil Eye, put upon them, by an ill-wisher.

"Even someone simply feeling annoyed with you can put the hex on you – we are here to lift it. There are ways, but we do not discuss them.

"We can cure sunstroke by a ritual involving a glass of water with a cloth over the top, placed on the head. If the water boils, it is removing the effect of the sunstroke. I have seen it done, many times."

In Spain, it seems, as in many other places, the gradual loss of influence by the church is adding strength to other, far older, beliefs. If there are White Witches, who help people, are there also Black Witches, the ancient, traditional practitioners of evil?

Both Father Diego and Dolores Angulo declined to comment. Some things, plainly, are simply not discussed, in modern Spain, but it might be wise to invest in a Cruz de Caravaca, just in case!

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