Broom
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Image copyright Westfaelische Saxophoniker, may be used freely with attribution. |
A
broom is a
cleaning tool consisting of stiff fibres attached to, and roughly parallel to, a
cylindrical handle, the
broomstick. In the context of
witchcraft, "broomstick" is likely to refer to the broom as a whole. A smaller
whisk broom or
brush sometimes called a
duster.
Brooms have undergone significant changes in their construction, ever since they evolved from ad-hoc use of branches and bundles of various natural fibres. Originally, all brooms were round, a shape that is easy to construct but inefficient for actually sweeping. Brooms could be attached to a handle, either short for a whisk broom, or long for a broom used to sweep the floor or fireplace. The word for the tool was originally
besom,
broom simply being the material of which it was normally made. The fibres used in modern brooms are from "broom corn," actually a variety of
sorghum, and are unusually well suited to brooms. They are long, straight, durable, and bound together in the plant. The most recent major change is the
flat broom, invented by the
Shakers in the 1800s, which has far more width for pushing dirt and nearly all brooms produced today are flat brooms, the round broom being essentially obsolete.
Brooms have long been connected with witchcraft, almost universally portrayed as medieval-style round brooms and associated with female
witches.
Anecdotally, the broom served another purpose during periods of persecution. Witches and other
magic practitioners would disguise their wands as broom sticks to avoid suspicion. It is also a tradition that brooms have been used by some as receptacles to harbor temporarily a particular spirit.
Today the broom is included in lists of ritual tools in many
pagan guide books, where it is often referred to as a
besom. A broom is sometimes laid at the opening of some
covens' rossets. Representing the Element of Air, brooms are utilized in the purification of areas. They are used to sweep ritual circles clean of negative energy. The
high priestess or
high priest walks clockwise, traces the cast circle and sweeps with the broom a few inches off the ground. This practice can be used in addition to or in place of
incense to purify a ritual space. It is often employed by those allergic to incense, and during rituals practiced in smoke free areas. It is also a technique associated with "
kitchen witches" who use what's on hand to work spells.
In fiction
In many works of
fiction, broomsticks are pictured as a means of
air transport for witches.
The
Harry Potter book series is distinctive in portraying magical
flying brooms as used equally by both sexes, and especially prominently by
Quidditch players as analogues of polo ponies.
*Many toys and
costume accessories have been made in the form of brooms. In some countries, a
vibrating toy "Harry Potter Nimbus 2000 Broom" for 8-12 year-olds was marketed. It became controversial, and was taken off the market.
In the 1990 video game
Crystalis, you meet a magic broom that talks backwards.
* Brooms are sometimes put to punitive use, such as a
caning or a
birching.
* In
baseball, when the
home team is close to accomplishing a
sweep (having won the first two games of a three-game series or first three games of a four-game series), some fans will bring brooms to the ballpark and brandish them as a way of taunting the visiting team.
*
Mop
