Subtlety -- Isn't That A Medieval Dessert?
Guest Presentation for Kitchen Witchery Study Group
The kitchen has always been a place touched with magic and mystery, particularly in the eyes of people who don't cook. Most cultures have some aspect of a hearth/kitchen Goddess, and cooking lends itself well to ritual work. When social pressure forced magic and witchery to go underground, little bits and pieces clung to the kitchen anyway. Now, most Pagan deities are not usually the subtle type, but in the kitchen you can often find delicate touches of magic in an otherwise mundane household.
Remnants of family-tradition Paganism show up clearly in the kitchen if you know what to look for. In my family, each of the women possesses a "knack" for making a particular dish which no one else can duplicate. My grandmother made hot rolls; my mother makes sausage gravy. (I haven't found mine yet.) Talking to the food is another sign: "Don't you dare fall!" they would say to rising bread. Some lucky folks have a "cooking sense" and can tell exactly when to pour the jelly into jars, how much salt to add, which herbs to use. For an experienced cook, knowledge becomes art becomes magic -- but some people just "know" what to do from the very beginning.
Certain customs, as well as abilities, point to Pagan background. When you go visiting, watch for little "guardian spirit" figures hung on the walls. I have seen a number of nifty ones bearing the label "Kitchen Witch" as well as more ordinary plaques reading "Dana's Kitchen" or the like. Do certain utensils "live" in a specific place, even if everything else is a mess? Are there words or phrases always spoken when putting pies in the oven or before dinner guests arrive? Do the cookbooks hold a "charge" like a Book of Shadows? Ancestor worship crops up frequently, with someone calling on a renowned family cook for inspiration or assistance: "Please, Aunt Betty, let this thing turn out right!"
If you're lucky enough to have original copies of very old recipes, look through them for use notes. My collection includes recipes with such decipherable comments as "for field hands at harvest time" and "take to baby showers" plus others I can't puzzle out. Recently publishers have released a number of books which focus on kitchen witchery, but you can occasionally find "mainstream" cookbooks that feature similar notes. In particular, watch for the "festival food" collections that give recipes traditionally served on specific holidays. Many of those are old Pagan holdovers.
Finally, keep an eye out for kitchen witchery outside the kitchen itself. Talk to older relatives and friends about their cooking customs. You don't have to mention Paganism, just listen for tidbits that have potential. Read the non-recipe parts of cookbooks, especially regional ones; they often list folklore associated with cooking, and much of that comes from Pagan traditions. You may find connections in places that surprise you.
"Subtlety -- Isn't That A Medieval Dessert?" copyright 1996 Elizabeth Barrette.
Art on this page is from the "Whiteflower" set, at Winter's Pages
The URL for this page is http://www.worthlink.net/~ysabet/spirit/subtlety.html and it was last updated on October 13, 1998.
