Cauldron (vessel)

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Representation of the cauldron in symbolism

Witch cauldrons are fictional objects that can appear in mythological literature , fairy tales and other forms of literature and are counted among the classic attributes of the witch image . The symbol of the “magic cauldron” has its historical origin in Europe with the sacrificial and cult vessels of the Celtic and Germanic religion . Their appearance often resembles large 5 to 50 liter boiling kettles .

Origins and role models

Archaeological finds of pre-Roman bronze kettles are numerous, especially kettles that were sunk in bogs and lakes for ritual reasons. The best-known find is probably the Early Latency cauldron of Brå in Jutland (3rd century BC) and the cauldron of Rynkeby on Funen . Both cauldrons are decorated with bull motifs. The well-known cauldron from Gundestrup (Denmark, 1st century BC) is decorated with scenes of sacrifice .

Witches doing damage spell with uterine vessel and stirrer (1508)
"Warhaftige newspaper of the wicked witches" (1571)

Some North Germanic or Island Celtic figures (e.g. the Irish Manannán mac Lir or the Old Norse Ægir ) are expressly described as the owner of a magic cauldron. An important mythical symbol is the Irish cauldron of the Dagda , a huge, never-ending vessel. In mythological tradition, healing and magic cauldrons are also called, such as the cauldron of Cormac , which is said to break into pieces when three lies are spoken about him, the cauldron of the Ceridwen with which the goddess brewed a wisdom potion for her children, or the cauldron of the mythical British king Bran , with which he brought dead warriors back to life.

The kettle was also used ritually for the sacrifice of liquids (beer, wine, blood, water), the so-called libation or the storage and distribution of religious fluids (joint filling of the kettle, joint drinking from a kettle).

interpretation

The cauldron is seen as a symbol of the life-giving uterus ( uterine symbol ); This is underlined by its reference to liquids as symbols of the primordial ocean, the springs and rivers. Many ritual cauldrons are associated with river or sea deities (e.g. the sea giant Ægir). Through this life-giving symbolism, the magical cauldron is also connected to the symbol of the "cornucopia" ( celt . Cors benoiz ).

There are two more important aspects to the fertility symbolism: First, the transformation of the contents of a special cauldron into a magical liquid , i.e. H. the transfer of the properties of the kettle to its contents (transmutation) such as the use of human skulls as drinking vessels, as they are also described in the death song of Ragnar Lodbrok (old Icelandic bjùgviðir hausa , the "crooked wood of the skull" = drinking horn) as a symbol for the transfer of life force from the vessel to the contents and finally to the drinker. This motif of the magic cauldron can also be found in the development of the Grail legend (old French cors benoit = body of Christ).
The kettle also has the ritual aspect of uniting those who drink from it, i.e. H. drinking together from a kettle binds the drinkers to one another and shares a common part in a ritual unity. Remnants of this motif can be found in the use of drinking horns or "beer boots" for communal drinking since the 15th century, as well as in various wedding rituals (in Judaism , Hinduism ) and in Christian worship (baptismal vessels, chalices).

The cauldron motif in literature

  • In Marc-Antoine Charpentier's opera Médée (1693), Medea conjures up the spirits of the underworld and receives a cauldron from them. The kettle is needed because a poison is to be touched in it.
  • In Shakespeare's play Macbeth , three witches walk around a cauldron and throw ingredients such as frog toes, otter tongues, lizard legs, bat hair, wolf tooth, hemlock roots and other things into it. After everything has been cooked, a “dance around the cauldron” follows (4th act, 1st scene).

literature

  • Bernhard Maier : The religion of the Teutons. Gods-myths-worldview . Munich (Beck) 2003
  • Stefan Zimmer (ed.): The Celts - Myth and Reality . Stuttgart (Theiss) 2004
  • Malcolm Godwin: The Holy Grail - Origin, Secret and Interpretation of a Legend Munich 1994
  • Ursus-Nikolaus Riede: The power of the abnormal as the root of culture . Stuttgart (Thieme) 1995
  • Charles Zika: Article Cauldron , in: Richard M. Golden (ed.), Encyclopedia of Witchcraft. The western tradition, Volume 1, ABC-CLIO Ltd. 2006, page 176f.