Part 1: The search

“Ding, dong, the witch is…”
“Hey stop that! She’ll hear you. You can’t go singing about like that in these parts.”
“Ding dong.”
They stood quietly away from the door and waited…
Scuffling was heard inside and the sound of someone turning the door handle.
The children stiffened. Their minds were filled with horrible images of green warty noses, pointed hats, black hair and being baked or boiled in a stew.
As the door creaked open a strange smell emerged, at once bitter and acrid to the nose.
“I told you this was a bad idea.” Whispered the little boy.
“They all said she had been crushed by a house.” The little girl retorted, now less sure than ever.
They backed slowly down the gooey path, feet sticking to the large gumdrops that paved the way and–
”Ouch!
“Shhhh!”
“Hsss.”
The black cat that had been laying there was now wide awake, it’s hairs all on end, it’s eyes green and flashing.
“It’s her familiar.” the girl whimpered almost in tears.
Then came a cackle from within the house, it was loud and distinctive like a nasal parrot being strangled in fits and starts. It got louder and louder and the house began to steam and lift off the ground.
The children watched in terror and awe as five brooms directed the house into the air where it disappeared in a flash of light and a puff of green smoke.
Trembling the children turned to run but found that their feet had sunken into sweet sticky goo of the path. Struggling like only two very frightened children who have just seen a witch in a darkening forest can, they flipped and flapped and flopped and hopped. They pushed and pulled and shook. They croaked and croaked and looked at each other in horror.
“CROOOOOAAAK!” They screamed in unison, and immediately began to cry.
They cried and cried and as they cried night fell and the dew and tears began to settle on their newly amphibian skin and their webbed feet started to loosen from the grip of the gumdrop path.
The moon rose. The stars came out. And without knowing where, they began their hop.

Part 2: Findings.

People labeled as witches can be found historically and presently in many societies globally with each different culture, region or even time period having a different definition of exactly what a witch is and does, what that means and why.

European witchcraft is seen by historians as an ideology for explaining misfortune; however, this ideology manifested in diverse ways. Reasons for accusations of witchcraft fall into four general categories:

1. A person was caught in the act of positive or negative sorcery
2. A well-meaning sorcerer or healer lost their clients’ or the authorities’ trust
3. A person did nothing more than gain the enmity of their neighbours
4. A person was reputed to be a witch and surrounded with an aura of witch-beliefs or Occultis

In Christianity and Islam as well as Judaism sorcery became equated with evil, the devil and many witch hunts were held to eradicate such people from communities. The Malleus Maleficarum was a witch hunting manual that contained methods for identification, the trial and punishment of witches and also reasoning why women are much more likely to be witches than men.

There are or have been practices related to so called witches in South America, Asia, Europe, America, India and Africa and it is referenced in The New Testament, The Hebrew Bible, The Quran among many other religious texts. The references tend to claim the practice of sorcery or witchcraft as evil and often condemn the practitioners to death.

Witch hunts are still going on.  In India, in only two states there were estimated 750 people killed in witch hunts since 2003. In Chhattisgarh, another state, they estimate that 100 women are tortured and paraded naked or harassed annually. Saudi Arabia continues to use the death penalty for sorcery. There have been reports of killings in Papua New Guinea and in Africa It was reported that in Kenya in 2008, a mob had burnt to death at least 11 people accused of witchcraft. In Tanzania in 2008, President Kikwete publicly condemned witch doctors for killing albinos for their body parts, which are thought to bring good luck. 25 albinos have been murdered since March 2007. In the Meatu district of Tanzania, half of all murders are “witch-killings”, while particularly albinos are often murdered for their body parts on the advice of witch doctors in order to produce powerful amulets that are believed to protect against witchcraft and make the owner prosper in life.
In parts of  Nigeria about 15,000 children  have been branded as witches and most of them end up abandoned and abused on the streets. In Gambia, about 1,000 people accused of being witches were locked in detention centers in 2009.

The Merriam Webster Dictionary defines witch as:

Witch noun.
1: one that is credited with usually malignant supernatural powers; especially : a woman practicing usually blackwitchcraft often with the aid of a devil or familiar : sorceress
2: an ugly old woman : hag
3: a charming or alluring girl or woman
4: a practitioner of Wicca

Origin of WITCH.

Middle English wicche, from Old English wicca, masculine, wizard & wicce, feminine, witch; akin to Middle High Germanwicken to bewitch, Old English wigle divination, and perhaps to Old High German wīh holy — more at victim
First Known Use: before 12th century

(the information contained in Part 2 is from Wikipedia and the Merriam Webster Dictionary)

Part 3: Practices.

She knew it was important, the way the sun going down is important. An event that could look so menial and so grand at the same time.
Her little feed dug in the grass as she inhaled deeply the sweet smoke that smells like safety, just as Van Morrison sounds like home.
Eyes closed and breathing deeply she surrounded herself in the smoke, the wings of birds beat the air around her.

This was no ordinary night and instead of being relegated to bed or minded by some other person she was here, where things were happening. She felt big and proud to be allowed to sit with the adults, with the women, to hear the stories. As the smoke cleared her mother handed her the smudge and she, innocently as only one so young can, with all the ancestry that sits strongly behind her (and none of the suspicion or shame that comes with knowing “your place” in this society) she picked up the wing and began her task.

Each woman would approach the small door to the tipi, and with her best outfit on (which ranged from silk saris from India to tie-dyed tights to something of her mothers that was way too big) she would welcome and smudge each woman before they passed through the threshold. This way she was an important part of the ritual and was greeted by each of the women with respect and acknowledgement for the role she played. Once the last woman was through the door she would find a place next to her mother, or auntie Inna or some other mama she decided to adopt for the night. Inside there were always flowers and lush cushions, candles that reflected the light of all who sat there. The elements were called and she would watch each time as her mother would grow into a magical medicine woman calling down and up the safety and the blessings of the earth and all that be. After that, it all happened.
Laughing, crying, dirty jokes, singing, so much singing, dancing, screaming and of course STORIES. Some were real, others legends and myths, tales of triumph or disaster, lessons all.
They all listened, they all had a chance to speak, even her, young as she was.

It would get late, she would play with candle way and make the most delicate little cups, much like thimbles by dipping her finger in the hot wax of the candles and then sticking it in her mouth only to repeat until she could pull it off without it breaking. What satisfaction! And the tapping sound it made on the wooden boards of the tipi floor, she liked that most of all and could be amused that way for hours. Except that playing with wax wasn’t part of being a respectful in circle and if she wasn’t sitting next to her mother she would get some serious stares from across the circle that clearly would say “Stop with the wax. Now!”

Sometimes she would fall asleep, comfortable, listening to the voices of the women in her life, sometimes in song. Often she’d have someone to play with her hair or who would rub her back as she drifted off on the cushions or sheepskins on the floor, surrounded by the crackle of the fire and the smell of smoke, incense and whatever exotic flower essence the person next to her was wearing.

She would wake in a tipi much darker and emptier and with only a few candles and mother would get her up, grumbling all the way and take her to bed in the little tipi next door where she slept.