Witch hat

Last updated
Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz The Wizard of Oz Margaret Hamilton Judy Garland 1939.jpg
Margaret Hamilton as the Wicked Witch of the West in the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz

A witch hat is a style of hat worn by witches in popular culture depictions, characterized by a conical crown and a wide brim.

Contents

Origins and design

Woodcut showing a witch on a broomstick with a conical hat, from The History of Witches and Wizards (1720) The History of Witches and Wizards, 1720 Wellcome L0026615.jpg
Woodcut showing a witch on a broomstick with a conical hat, from The History of Witches and Wizards (1720)

The origins of the witch hat as displayed today are disputed.

One theory is that the image arose out of antisemitism: in 1215, the Fourth Council of the Lateran issued an edict that all Jews must wear identifying headgear, a pointed cap known as a Judenhut . Potentially, this style of hat then became associated with black magic, Satan-worship and other acts of which the Jews were accused. [1]

Another theory posits that the witch hat has origins in the phrygian cap which is associated with Mithraism, a Greek and then Roman mystery cult.[ citation needed ]

An earlier theory is the mummified remains of the "witches" of Subeshi, who wore very tall, pointed black hats that resembled the iconic headgear of their sisters in medieval Europe. Subeshi, dated to between the 4th and 2nd centuries BC, is located in a high gorge just to the east of the important city of Turfan.[ citation needed ]

A similar theory posits that the image of the archetypal witch hat was born from anti-Quaker prejudice. Although the hats traditionally worn by Quakers themselves were not pointed, Quaker caps were a focus of cultural controversy, and it is conceivable that the Puritan backlash against Quakers in the mid-18th century contributed to hats becoming part of the iconography of the demonic. [1]

Yet another hypothesis proposes that witch hats originated as alewife hats, distinctive headgear worn by women who home-brewed beer for sale. According to this suggestion, these hats gained negative connotations when the brewing industry, dominated by men, accused alewives of selling diluted or tainted beer. In combination with the general suspicion that women with knowledge of herbology were working in an occult domain, the alewife hat could have become associated with witchcraft. [2]

L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz featured illustrations that portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West sporting a tall, conical hat. [3] This fashion accessory was carried over for the 1939 film adaptation, in which the Wicked Witch was played by character actress Margaret Hamilton.

In media

Witch hats have been worn by a number of fictional characters, including:

Depending upon the material in which the hat is made, the crown may regularly be observed in a flexed, bent or crumpled condition.

See also

Related Research Articles

<i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> 1900 childrens novel by L. Frank Baum

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their home by a cyclone. Upon her arrival in the magical world of Oz, she learns she cannot return home until she has destroyed the Wicked Witch of the West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ruby slippers</span> Magical footwear from The Wizard of Oz

The ruby slippers are a pair of magical shoes worn by Dorothy Gale as played by Judy Garland in the 1939 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical film The Wizard of Oz. Because of their iconic stature, they are among the most valuable items of film memorabilia. Several pairs were made for the film, though the exact number is unknown. Five pairs are known to have survived; one pair was stolen from a museum in 2005 and recovered in 2018.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dorothy Gale</span> Fictional protagonist in Oz novels

Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by the American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his Oz novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappears in most of its sequels. She is also the main character in various adaptations, notably the 1939 film adaptation of the novel, The Wizard of Oz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Glinda</span> The Wonderful Wizard of Oz character

Glinda is a fictional character created by L. Frank Baum for his Oz novels. She first appears in Baum's 1900 children's classic The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and is the most powerful sorceress in the Land of Oz, ruler of the Quadling Country South of the Emerald City, and protector of Princess Ozma.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tin Woodman</span> Character from Oz series

Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He first appeared in his 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappeared in many other subsequent Oz books in the series. In late 19th-century America, men made out of various tin pieces were used in advertising and political cartoons. Baum, who was editing a magazine on decorating shop windows when he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was inspired to invent the Tin Woodman by a figure he had built out of metal parts for a shop display.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Land of Oz</span> Fantasy land created by L. Frank Baum

The Land of Oz is a magical country introduced in the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scarecrow (Oz)</span> Character in L. Frank Baums fictional Land of Oz

The Scarecrow is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum and illustrator W.W. Denslow. In his first appearance, the Scarecrow reveals that he lacks a brain and desires above all else to have one. In reality, he is only two days old and merely naïve. Throughout the course of the novel, he proves to have the brains he seeks and is later recognized as "the wisest man in all of Oz," although he continues to credit the Wizard for them. He is, however, wise enough to know his own limitations and all too happy to hand the rulership of Oz to Princess Ozma and become one of her trusted advisors, though he typically spends more time having fun than advising.

The Wicked Witch of the West, a fictional character in the classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900) by the American author L. Frank Baum, is the evil ruler of the Winkie Country, the western region in the Land of Oz. She is inadvertently killed by the child Dorothy Gale. In Baum's subsequent Oz novels, the Wicked Witch of the West is referred to occasionally.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Wicked Witch of the East</span> Fictional character

The Wicked Witch of the East is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is a crucial character but appears only briefly in Baum's classic children's series of Oz novels, most notably The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elphaba</span> Fictional character from Wicked

Elphaba Thropp is the protagonist in the 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, its musical theatre adaptation, and the musical's two-part film adaptation. Elphaba is a reimagining of the Wicked Witch of the West from L. Frank Baum's 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Good Witch of the North (Baum)</span> The Wonderful Wizard of Oz character

The Good Witch of the North, sometimes named Locasta or Tattypoo, is a fictional character in the Land of Oz, created by American author L. Frank Baum. She is the elderly and mild-mannered Ruler of the Gillikin Country. Her only significant appearance in Baum's work is in Chapter 2 of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900), in which she introduces Dorothy Gale to Oz and sends her to meet the Wizard, after placing a protective kiss on her forehead. She makes a brief cameo appearance at Princess Ozma's birthday party in The Road to Oz (1909), but is otherwise only mentioned elsewhere in the series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mombi</span> Fictional character

Mombi is a fictional character in L. Frank Baum's classic children's series of Oz Books. She is the most significant antagonist in the second Oz book The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904), and is alluded to in other works. Mombi plays a very important role in the fictional history of Oz.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Party hat</span> Celebratory hats

A party hat is any of a number of celebratory hats, most typically in the form of a conical hat made with a piece of thin paperboard, usually with designs printed on the outside and a long string of elastic acting like a chinstrap, going from one side of the cone's bottom to another to secure the cone to the person's head. Party hats are worn most often at birthday parties, especially by the guest of honor or at New Year's Eve celebrations. In the United Kingdom the hat is made of paper and is in the shape of a crown, and is most typically worn during a Christmas dinner. The hat is generally received from a Christmas cracker cracked with someone near oneself at the dinner table. The party hat has its origins in the dunce cap or sanbenito worn by misbehaving or poorly performing schoolchildren from the mid-19th century to the early 20th century, with its festive decoration and society's positive attitude toward the wearer indicating a relaxation, or even reversal, of certain social norms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish hat</span> Cone-shaped pointed hat, worn by Jews in Medieval Europe and parts of the Islamic world

The Jewish hat, also known as the Jewish cap, Judenhut (German) or Latin pileus cornutus, was a cone-shaped pointed hat, often white or yellow, worn by Jews in Medieval Europe. Initially worn by choice, its wearing was enforced in some places in Europe after the 1215 Fourth Council of the Lateran for adult male Jews to wear while outside a ghetto to distinguish them from others. Like the Phrygian cap that it often resembles, the hat may have originated in pre-Islamic Persia, as a similar hat was worn by Babylonian Jews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pointed hat</span> Type of headgear

Pointed hats have been a distinctive item of headgear of a wide range of cultures throughout history. Although often suggesting an ancient Indo-European tradition, they were also traditionally worn by women of Lapland, the Japanese, the Mi'kmaq people of Atlantic Canada, and the Huastecs of Veracruz and Aztec. The Kabiri of New Guinea have the diba, a pointed hat glued together.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Winged monkeys</span> Fictional characters from the Wizard of Oz

Winged monkeys are fictional characters that first appeared in the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, written by the American author L. Frank Baum. They are described as jungle monkeys with bird-like feathered wings. They are playful, intelligent, and speak English. They are initially under the control of the Wicked Witch of the West, but are later controlled by the protagonist, Dorothy Gale. They lift Dorothy and fly her to two distant locations.

<i>The Wonderful Wizard of Oz</i> (TV series) 1986 TV series

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, known in Japan as Ozu no Mahōtsukai (オズの魔法使い), is a Japanese anime television series adaptation based on four of the original early 20th century Oz books by L. Frank Baum. In Japan, the series aired on TV Tokyo from 1986 to 1987. It consists of 52 episodes, which explain other parts of the Oz stories, including the events that happened after Dorothy returned home.

<i>Tales of the Wizard of Oz</i> 1961 multi-national TV series or program

Tales of the Wizard of Oz is a 1961 animated television series produced by Crawley Films for Videocraft. This is the second animated series produced by the studio and the first by Rankin/Bass to feature traditional animation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cowardly Lion</span> Fictional character from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz

The Cowardly Lion is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. He is depicted as an African lion, but like all animals in Oz, he can speak.

References

  1. 1 2 Waldman, Katy (2013-10-17). "Why do witches wear pointy hats?". Slate . Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  2. Wayda, Danielle (2018-10-31). "The ale-soaked medieval origins of the witch's hat". Vice . Retrieved 2019-04-03.
  3. Fraser, Emma (2018-07-25). "The Wizard of Oz and a brief history of the witch hat". SyFy . Archived from the original on 2021-09-21. Retrieved 2019-04-03.