Easter witch

What it is

An Easter witch belongs to Swedish folk story and to the Easter calendar. In the story she is a woman who rides a broom through the air to Blockula, a gathering place in Swedish tradition, on the Thursday before Easter or the night before it, and comes home again at Easter. In the custom that survives, children take the part: they dress as witches, as old women or in old men's clothes, call at doors with greetings, and are often given treats. The same figure is called påskhäxa in Swedish-speaking Finland and trulli in Finnish.

Where it comes from

Nobody knows exactly when the dressing up began. The custom was common in western Swedish towns by the middle of the 19th century, so the first Easter witches are thought to go back to the late 1700s. Reports cluster in Bohuslän, Dalsland, Värmland and parts of Västergötland. Adults and young people were the first to dress up, and children took over the practice later. In Finland the round is traced to an old Karelian Orthodox Christian tradition and is kept on Palm Sunday.

How it is done

The modern custom is a round of visits, done in outline as follows. Children put on witch or old-person dress, sometimes carrying hand-made cards and other greetings, and call at houses, receiving treats in return. In Sweden the visiting is placed on Maundy Thursday or on Holy Saturday, and was reported mainly for Holy Saturday evening. The older household custom is quieter: doors and dampers are secured and tools put out of reach, and barn doors are fastened so that witches cannot milk or ride the animals.

Tools and materials

Brooms are the witches' transport in the legend. The children's round uses hand-made cards and other greetings, offered at the door in exchange for treats. In the older protective custom the objects that mattered were everyday ones: house doors, dampers, barn doors, and any tool a witch might use on her journey, all of them closed, fastened or put away before Maundy Thursday.

What it is for

For children the point is the visit and the treat, much like Halloween trick-or-treating. In the older belief the customs were defensive: a household secured its doors and dampers, hid anything a witch could travel with, and fastened the barn so that no witch could milk or ride the cattle. The greeting carried to the door is a friendly token of the season, given by children to neighbours.

Who does it

No specialist is needed. In the 19th century adults and young people dressed up, and in time the part passed to children, who now carry the custom. Girls and boys both take part, appearing as witches, as old women or in old men's clothing. Nobody is trained for it and no office or rank attaches to it: it is a household and neighbourhood practice, learned by imitation from one Easter to the next.

Peoples and places

Sweden is the home of the legend and of the dress-up round, with reports coming mainly from Bohuslän, Dalsland, Värmland and parts of Västergötland. In Finland the custom is kept too, under the Finland Swedish name påskhäxa and the Finnish name trulli, but there it belongs to an older Karelian Orthodox Christian strand and falls on Palm Sunday rather than at the end of Holy Week.

What people believe

Behind the custom sits a picture of Easter as a dangerous passage in the year. Witches were said to leave for Blockula, also called Blåkulla or Blå Jungfrun, on the Thursday before Easter, gather there and return by Easter, and the Devil is named as the one they met. In the 17th century this fear led households to lock doors, close dampers and fasten barns. Walpurgis Night, a warding celebration at a similar point in the year, is related to the same worry.

When it is done

The legend sets the flight on Maundy Thursday, or on the night between Holy Wednesday and Thursday, with the return at Easter. The visiting custom in Sweden is placed on Maundy Thursday or on Holy Saturday, the day before Easter, and was reported mainly for Holy Saturday evening. In Finland the round is made on Palm Sunday. Walpurgis Night, at the end of April, is a related time of warding.

Compare and confuse

The children's round is closest to Halloween trick-or-treating, and the two share a shape: dress, a door, a greeting, a treat. Walpurgis Night belongs to the same season of warding. Names for the figure differ by language and place: påskkärring in Swedish, påskhäxa in Finland Swedish, trulli in Finnish, while the gathering place appears as Blockula, Blåkulla or Blå Jungfrun.

Law and persecution

In 17th-century Sweden fear of witches produced trials in which innocent people were tortured to death, around 280 of them between 1668 and 1676. The last woman was wrongly sentenced in 1704, and the death penalty for witchcraft was not repealed until 1779. In those years doors and dampers were secured against travel to Blockula, and tools that might serve a journey were put away on Maundy Thursday.

Today

The practice now belongs to children in Sweden and Finland. They dress as witches, old women or old men, carry hand-made cards and other greetings to neighbours, and often come away with treats. What began with adults and young people has moved down the generations, until the witch of the legend became a part played by the young.

Days linked to Easter witch

Questions people ask about Easter witch

Good reading and sources

• Easter witch on WikipediaEncyclopedia
• More photos on Wikimedia CommonsPhotos and video
• Wikidata recordOpen data