where did it come from

david hobbs · where did it come from

Does anyone know where the image of the witch with the big pointy hat originated?

meiah

Found the following on http://homepages.tesco.net/~tony.singleton/theory/tools/tools.htm
:
The sterotypical images of a witch includes the typical tall, black, pointed hat with a broad rim. There are different theories as to the origin of this stereotype. The witch's hat may go back to antiquity. Ancient Etruscan coins from the city of Luna have a head on one side which may be the goddess Diana. The head wears a brimless, conical hat.

In medieval woodcuts and drawings, witches are depicted wearing various costumes of the times, including headscarves and hats of different fashions. Many are shown bareheaded, with locks flying in the wind.

It is also possible that the witch's hat is an exaggeration of the tall, conical "dunce's hat" that was popular in the royal courts of the 15th century or the tall but blunt-topped hats worn by Puritans and the Welsh. In addition, medieval Jews were made to wear conical hats. Jewish people were rumoured to hold blasphemous Sabbaths paralleling the Sabbats of witches. Perhaps the hat and its connotations of sin and depravity were transferred over to the stereotypical depiction of the witch.

Nevertheless, the witch's hat came into being in Victorian times or around the turn of the century, a stereotype in illustrations of children's fairy tales

or try http://www.widdershins.org/vol6iss8/oestara01.07.html

Dunno if either of these are right.....but had fun looking!!!

david hobbs

Or could it be that witches have conical shaped heads

Time for me to get into my spell proof bunker!

Samjaza

Perhaps it's a materialisation of the cone of power.

david hobbs

I seem to remember that the standard image of a maiden in distress,and about to be rescues by a knight in shinning armour was always wearing a conical hat.

meiah

Hmmm....it follows. She always had the power to get rescued didn't she