Witches Dance

Me too! :black_heart:

I haven’t had time to get any more practice in, though. :face_with_peeking_eye:

I say it kind of like beh-zom, but I don’t know what it’s meant to be. :sweat_smile:

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That’s how I say it :joy: but I’ve also heard “bee-sum” and “bay-sum”, too lol

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That’s what Google says it is, too, now that I look. But at the same time, Google is now getting AI to provide its answers, so the chance of hallucination is above 0%. :joy:

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Hmm… it might not actually be wrong :joy: Cambridge Dictionary also says “bee-sum”

How to pronounce BESOM in English

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Ah! Nice find. :black_heart:

Another word to add to my “to correct” list. At least I finally got Samhain down! :joy:

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haha I still need to do those other pronunciation videos! :joy:

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No rush or pressure at all! Feel free to even dance a little with us first. :wink: :dancer: :black_heart:

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haha maybe one day I will! :joy:

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I’d heave ‘my bosom over my besom’ quite honestly :joy:
Just as I don’t say boo-some or boe-some, I say bu-zum, I pronounce this beh-zum.

But, like the pronunciation of Hekate, maybe differences add spice?!?

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I hear “bay-zom” But then my hearing is challenged. Thanks for the clarification.

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No worries! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: I think it’s probably one of those words that have a lot of different pronunciations. It’s not a word commonly used in the US. I have read recently that it’s a word based in the Northern part of the UK… The book Witchcraft Unchained by Craig Spencer says that the use of the word besom for a broom comes from the use of the broom to keep away the Besoms. I’m going to include the quote here, but I am struggling to verify this information so… take it with a grain of salt (for now!).

Besom is one of my favourite local expressions. The use of the word within the community today is generally used correctly. It is indeed a broom, but the reason that the broom was called a besom is why I love the expression so much. Haunting some of the lonely hills of Old Lancashire (current Lancashire and Greater Manchester) are a host of malevolent hill spirits known as Besom. These rather solitary creatures are very territorial and will cause great harm and misfortune to those who trespass on their property in a manner that they deem disrespectful. Taking the form of the stereotypical “witch,” these spirits feed into the classic images of evil hags dancing at midnight to raise nefarious forces and who are often seen as silhouettes, flying on broomsticks from place to place. If you are one of the people unfortunate enough to live close to such a hill in this part of England, tradition says that you should beware. The Besom are able to send their malicious magic and enchantments into your home while you sleep, serving as a punishment for humans having built on their land…but there is hope!

Local legend tells that this region’s goddess created covenants with each and every type of being-human, animal, or spirit-that calls this part of Britain home. These covenants were sealed by the Goddess Herself and have evolved into the rules that many of us have come to know as Occult Law. With regards to the Besom, it was decided that if a home had a broom, bristles up, by their front door before bed, the power of the Besom could not enter or affect those who live there. With some of the older generations, you can occasionally hear the expression “nowty (naughty) Besom” being used to describe a woman who is ill-mannered, rude, or generally up to no good. This expression is used in a similar way to the term “witch” when it is used as an insult for poor or malicious behaviour.

This broom is sometimes called a besom broom (or “besom broosh” in the local dialect). Over time, people started just calling it a besom for short, therefore, the use of the words broom and besom became synonymous.

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:eyes: !!! Let’s all get to besom making! :muscle: :witch_broom:

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haha I hope to make one when we finally move! :clap:

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A possible alternative is “A Scots term whose definition has grown broader over time, it initially referred to immoral women…or someone of poor hygiene.”

So much of the common ‘witch’ myths are based on the unapproved Malleus Maleficarum and terrors from the centuries of plague deaths, that it’s sometimes difficult to separate fact from fiction, in my opinion.
“Taking the form of the stereotypical “witch,” these spirits feed into the classic images of evil hags dancing at midnight to raise nefarious forces and who are often seen as silhouettes, flying on broomsticks from place to place.”
Broomstick flying is a classic example of a myth about witches directly taken from the witchcraft trials and hysteria born of plague fears, for one thing, and power for another.

So the idea that an ignorant peoples (of bacteria and viruses) struggling with these intense terrors and real threats would create this imagery and association (immorality to a single woman using a twig broom) to regain power over themselves and others is possible.

I love that it has since been taken and turned into the positive and affirming device that it inherently was!
Thanks!

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Thanks for sharing the link - that’s one I didn’t find in my searching for other uses of the word!

I have a request in with a fellow creator in the UK about local folklore and word usage regarding “besom”, but it’s always super interesting to see how the words are used in similar places.

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Your friendly neighbourhood Katerina dropping by to say: DANCING IS SO HARD. OMG.

What have I gotten myself into. This is going to be a new year’s resolution at this rate. :joy:

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@starborn I’ve been so wiped out lately I haven’t been doing much of anything! This has definitely been put on the back burner

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