By what criteria in Russia was a witch in front of them or an ordinary woman determined?
In different years and in different parts of Russia, absolutely different women were considered witches. In the South, beautiful young widows were often accused of witchcraft, who, by their mere appearance, encouraged men (including married ones) to reckless acts. In the northern provinces, when asked what a real witch looks like, you would be told that this is a dry, hunched over and necessarily shaggy old woman. If you asked this question in the middle part of the country, then the portrait would be that - thick, dirty and always with a thorn in the eye.
Everyone agreed that they have a small tail that is not visible to ordinary people. To make sure that their suspicions were true, the village women called the "victim" with them to the bathhouse. The refusal was regarded as confirmation of their suspicions. Does a real witch dare to show her tail … And one more evidence that this is a witch in front of you is when a woman turns her back to the iconostasis in the church, does not pray or cross herself.
Why witches always tried to retire
While some went to the withered shaggy or fat old woman with a thorn in her eye for help, others accused her of all conceivable and inconceivable sins, ranging from crop failure, ending with falling cattle, drought and torrential rains. So, it happened that in some troubles and troubles occurring in life, a person always seeks to blame another, and not himself and his environment. To protect themselves, the hermits settled on the edge of the village or in the forest so that in case of any unrest or discontent from the villagers, they could hide in the deep and impassable thicket of the forest. Unfortunately, they did not always manage to avoid lynching.
How they fought witches in Russia
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Suspected of the troubles of the entire village or its individual inhabitants, they were often interrogated with partiality. She was tortured, a rack was often used … Naturally, many confessed to the sins they had not committed. A bonfire and an aspen stake are the main means of fighting witches in Russia. They were impaled alive and burned in their own huts or at the stake.
History has preserved the most cruel execution - in 1489 thirteen witches were burned in Pskov, accusing them of sending a pestilence to the townspeople. In addition, she has preserved history and information about other executions. So, for example, the old woman Olena, who confessed to targeting damage to the villagers, was burned in her own hut near Moscow in 1670. Men also suffered. One of those accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake was the peasant Ogloedov. He was executed near Smolensk, it happened in 1678. He was accused of hiccupping people …