Monday, September 8, 2008

Green skin?



Sometimes, witches are depicted with green skin or red hair. Both green and red are colors associated in Celtic tradition with fairies. There has always been a connection between fairies and witches, both being thought of as being not quite of this world. An old description in Britain for a fairy or a human being who was thought to have psychic abilities was "greensleeve" or "green jacket". The association of green with the otherworld was so strong that at one time it was considered unlucky to wear green because it might incur the wrath of the fairies who considered it their own color. A person with red hair was also thought to have special otherworldly abilities. An old Celtic tradition that has come to Appalachia is that it is lucky to rub the head of a red headed child. ^_^
*Witch image found on the web. I'm sorry, I don't know who the talented artist is of this creation.* :(

2 comments:

The Artful Gypsy aka Wendy the Very Good Witch said...

Hey I have red hair...but lucky for me no green skin...YET! :o)

Broom Hilda said...

Ha!
Wens, you crack me up!
Sometimes I feel like
I should have green skin!
I feel wicked way too
many times a day!

^_^