Welsh Witches

How could I resist a book with a title like that?

Wales has a strange relationship with witches. During the height of the witch craze in the 17th century around 500 people were executed for witchcraft in England. A further 300 were executed in Scotland, almost all of them in the Lowlands. The number of witches executed in Wales in the comparable period was just five. There are many theories as to why this might have been the case.

The most obvious explanation is that Wales was largely Welsh-speaking at that time, and in order to find and accuse witches a witch hunter would have to speak Welsh. Highland Scotland, which was majority Gaelic-speaking, also seemed to escape the worst of the craze. However, it has also been suggested that the Welsh valued their village witches, and would not give them up in the way that the rest of the country did. It is notable that the five deaths were all of people who fell foul of the local gentry in some way.

That there were witches in Wales seems beyond doubt. In Welsh Witches, Efa Lois collects the stories of 100 of them. Some are from more recent times, but the majority are folk tales that could easily date back to the 17th century.

Many of the stories have common features. The witches are all women, and they mostly live alone. If not they live with other women who are often described as sisters. There is little sign of black cats, sabbats or broomsticks, but many of the witches are able to transform into hares.

Most of the witches lived in the countryside, and often they are accused of harming fellow villagers or livestock. A typical story is that the witch begged for a favour from a farmer or his wife, and was refused, leading her to take revenge. This suggests that the witches were mostly poor people who needed to beg.

Nevertheless, the witches seem to be easily bullied. In several stories, when the victim or a friend confronts the witch, she repents and lifts the curse. In some of these cases there is no obvious reason why the victim fell ill in the first place, which suggests that the witch may have cured an illness that she did not cause.

All of the stories are quite short. There are 100 of them, after all. Lois hasn’t put a lot of effort into dressing them up for the modern reader. What she has done instead is accompany each story with a picture. Her art style is very 1960s, reminiscent of the pop art work of Peter Max, or Heinz Edelmann’s work on the Beatles animation, Yellow Submarine. The witches are often drawn as brown or dark skinned, which is a rather welcome development.

I did, of course, check for local witches. There are several who lived in Carmarthen, including a group who used to sail the Tywi on giant scallop shells. There was also one in Llandeilo. But none are recorded as having lived in the Aman Valley. I can only assume that Twrch Trwyth keeps his home free of malign influences. I’d better put out an apple or two for him just in case.

Title: Welsh Witches
By: Efa Lois
Publisher: Seren
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