Witch Hat

Witch Hat

Witches are stereotypically shown wearing a tall, pointed hat. This dates from the time when the new religion (Christianity) was trying to discredit the Old Religion and make it look undesirable.

In the fifteenth century, the tall conical hat was very much in fashion for women of the court and with the upper classes. Eventually it went out of fashion. In those days it took time for fads and fashions to travel from the cities and towns to the villages and country folk. Long after the tall, pointed hat had become démodé in town, it was still being worn in the country. This was the time that the Church was trying to draw people away from the old Pagan religion and into Christianity. At that time, followers of the Old Religion were usually depicted wearing the nolonger-fashionable tall, pointed hats to subtly suggest that the Old Religion itself was out of fashion. It also tied in with the Church's view that all pointed hats were associated in some way with the pointed horns of the Devil.

In modern day Witchcraft, Witches generally do not wear anything on their heads. A Witch Queen, or Queen of the Sabbat, will wear a simple band of silver with a silver crescent moon on the front as a crown. On occasion a High Priest will wear an antlered or horned helmet when representing the God. The tall, black, pointed hat is not worn.

W I T C H H U N T S see BURNING TIMES