Latest news with #WitchesofScotland
The National
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The National
Nicola Sturgeon to chair event at Dundee Book Festival
The Dundee Book Festival launched its full programme on Wednesday, with more than 30 events set to take place next month. The former first minister, who is set to launch her own memoirs at the Edinburgh International Book Festival in August, will chair an event on witchcraft in Scotland. Nicola Sturgeon (Image: PA) The discussion on June 13 will feature Claire Mitchell KC and Zoe Venditozzi, the founders of the Witches of Scotland campaign who are working to secure a legal pardon and public apology for the thousands of people persecuted under Scotland's witch trials. Meanwhile, the Fun Lovin' Crime Writers, a band featuring top authors Val McDermid, Mark Billingham, Luca Veste and Chris Brookmyre, who will kick off the festival with a gig on June 12. READ MORE: Why assisted dying debate showed the Scottish Parliament at its best Local legend Fraser Reid, who owns a fruit and veg shop on the city's Perth Road, is set to discuss how his soup recipes led to a series of books. The event will include a three course meal at McManus Galleries. Several local authors are also set to appear, such as Gary Robertson, professors Chris Whatley and Jim Tomlinson, poet Andy Jackson as well as doctor and poet Jen Dunn. Other authors to appear at the festival include Sara Sheridan, Michael Pederson, James Crawford, Andrew Orr, Doug Johnston and journalists John MacKay and Hugo Rifkind. The Dundee Book Festival will take place from June 12 until 15. Most events are ticketed at £5, with the exception of the gig and the three-course meal. More information and tickets can be found here.
Scottish Sun
14-05-2025
- Politics
- Scottish Sun
Nicola Sturgeon to chair event on witches at brand new Scottish festival
She'll be joined by a famous friend for the event WITCH OUT Nicola Sturgeon to chair event on witches at brand new Scottish festival Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) NICOLA Sturgeon will be hoping to leave her audience spellbound as she chairs an event on WITCHES next month. The former First Minister will explore Scotland's witch trials, described as one of the darkest chapters in the country's history, at the first-ever Dundee Book Festival. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Sign up 3 Her author pal Val McDermid will open the festival with her band Credit: PA 3 Witches being hanged during the witchcraft trials of 1661 Credit: Alamy She will attend the event with pal Val McDermid - who will open the festival with her band of crime authors The Fun Lovin' Crime Writers. The ex-SNP leader will chair the headline witches show on Saturday evening on June 14. Ms Sturgeon will be joined on stage by Claire Mitchell KC and Zoe Venditozzi who are the founders of Witches of Scotland campaign. It comes after a campaign was launched five years ago to get a legal pardon for the estimated 2,500 people - the vast majority of them women - who were executed under Scotland's Witchcraft Act between the 16th and 18th Centuries. In 2022, when she was First Minister at the time, Ms Sturgeon marked International Women's Day by apologising for the thousands of women executed or convicted of being witches in Scotland hundreds of years ago. She insisted it was important to acknowledge that "injustice on a colossal scale" had taken place which she said was driven "at least in part" by misogyny. The law was was in force from 1563 until 1736 - a period when witch hunts took place in many countries. However, academics reckon Scotland's execution rate was five times the European average. Under the brutal regime, confessions were secured under torture and "witches" were strangled and their body burnt. Opening a Holyrood debate on IWD at the time, Ms Sturgeon said: "At a time when women were not even allowed to speak as witnesses in a court room, they were accused and killed because they were poor, different, vulnerable, or in many cases just because they were women." Inside 'Cave of the Devil' with 'blood-smeared walls where witches cast spells' The former First Minister has even been branded a witch herself in previous years. During the pandemic, a cheeky five-year-old went viral when she called Ms Sturgeon a "wee witch" after coronavirus restrictions ruined her sleepover plans. Youngster Freya was left gutted after house visits were banned in Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire and East Renfrewshire. It meant the schoolgirl was unable to go to her friend Ceci's house for her first ever sleepover. In the video, Freya said: "Nicola Sturgeon, how dare you. "I could go to my friend Ceci's party. I've got a sleepover at Ceci's at the weekend and I'm going to it. "I'm not cancelling. Wee witch." The Dundee Book Festival will run from Thursday, June 12 until Sunday, June 15 in a number of different venues across the city.
Scotsman
09-05-2025
- Scotsman
The Witches of Scotland are on the march with a new book and their fight for justice
With a public apology secured, Claire Mitchell KC & Zoe Venditozzi fight on for a pardon and are spreading the word with a podcast and tartan memorial Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... Are you female, have one or more moles and are capable of expressing yourself? Perhaps you have a cat, are maybe single by design or circumstance, and given to bestowing well-meaning medical tips? Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell, Witches of Scotland campaigners, are taking their now book How To Kill A Witch: A Guide For The Patriarchy on the road. | John Devlin Then you might as well get yourself a pointy hat and broomstick because turn back the clock a few centuries and you'd find yourself accused and convicted of witchcraft and in a burning bucket of tar surrounded by a braying mob faster than you can say 'I only said they might want to get some ointment on that'. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell KC, authors of How to Killa Witch: A Guide For The Patriarchy and founders of The Witches of Scotland campaign. | John Devlin Claire Mitchell KC & Zoe Venditozzi know only too well the speed and ease with which thousands of innocent women - and a few men - were murdered in the witch hunts which raged across Scotland from the 16th to 18th centuries and they give it chapter and verse in their fascinating, fact-filled, funny, feminist and furious new book, How to Kill A Witch - A Guide for the Patriarchy, which they will be highlighting at Boswell Book Festival this week and other forthcoming events. Mitchell, a Scottish advocate specialising in appellate law, with a particular focus on constitutional issues, human rights, and sentencing, and Zoe Venditozzi, a writer and educator, were both spurred on by a sense of injustice to set up the Witches of Scotland campaign five years ago. Dedicated to seeking justice for the nearly 4,000 predominantly women, who were accused of witchcraft in Scotland between 1563 and 1736 - with an estimated 2,500 executed - the self-styled 'quarrelsome dames' have become podcasters, authors and now tartaneers in a bid to meet their campaign aims of a pardon, an apology and some form of memorial. In addition to bearing witness to the murdered women, they also want to highlight the inequalities that still exist from misogyny and violence to accusations of witchcraft in various parts of the world, and challenge damaging patriarchal norms to make sure that we learn from our past mistakes. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Along with the campaign we have a companion podcast, Witches of Scotland which was initially supposed to be six episodes, but we're standing at 76 or so now,' says Mitchell, as she and Venditozzi tell me about the new book. It was standing in Edinburgh's Princes Street Gardens with its multiple statues of men and animals that inspiration for the campaign first struck Mitchell. 'I realised there were heehaw statues of named women and thought it was weird. As a lawyer who at that time had worked in the Appeal Court for more than 15 years I thought of the world through justice and miscarriages of justice. I thought not only are we not recording brilliant things women are doing but we're not recording a really dark time in Scotland's history where women were othered, persecuted and died in the most brutal and terrible miscarriage of justice, and it was on that point that I decided to do the campaign.' Teaming up with Venditozzi, who is passionate about uncovering and sharing the stories of those wrongfully accused during Scotland's witch trials, the pair set up The Witches of Scotland campaign which has three aims: an apology, a pardon and a memorial. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell KC of the Witches of Scotland who are campaigning for a pardon for the 4,000 mainly women accused of witchcraft three hundred years ago, and some kind of memorial. | John Devlin A state apology was issued by Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister on International Women's Day in 2022, and the campaign is still working on a pardon while the memorialisation has focused around a new tartan and the book. 'We dedicate the book to the women who were executed as witches and it tries to tell their story with some amazing written pieces from Zoe, the creative parts,' says Mitchell. 'I'm a writer,' says Venditozzi, 'so think in terms of that, but also we've created this amazing resource with the podcast and 76 episodes is pretty unwieldy so we thought it would be good to have a book too where we could distill the story. It's one place that explains where the witch trials came from, how they functioned, who was involved, explained by experts and with fictional pen portraits of the people involved so you think about the individuals too.' The witch trials are a dark topic, but Mitchell and Venditozzi imbue the book with humour at times too. It's stuffed with informative details, such as how long it takes to burn a body, why there is only one 'witch's' grave in Scotland, and the reason so many witches were called Janet (a fact that made me clutch my black cat for comfort) - the name being the witchcraft equivalent of Jane Doe, since proper records were never kept. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Venditozzi and Mitchell also speak to experts such as historians, forensic scientists and researchers and reference sources such as the Survey of Scottish Witchcraft database where the names of the accused are gathered. 'The witch trials are very serious obviously,' says Venditozzi, 'but we both have quite a dark sense of humour. I think doing this huge deep dive into it you have to have that. We're not historians, we're two middle aged women that have alighted on this as something that not only makes us angry about the past, but still angry because it's not sorted. 'We're maybe not still setting women on fire, but we're losing some of the gains we've made in the last half a century.' 'It's a call to action,' agrees Mitchell. To challenge misogyny and the norms where women are abused be it online or in person, and their hard won freedoms rolled back. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'It's for people to read and go 'well I don't want that to happen again and actually I can see parallels with now, so what can I do as a citizen, as a human, as an individual, to make sure that that doesn't happen again?' We still live in a patriarchy. There's still a problem with women getting to the top and unequal pay. There's still an unequal burden of caring responsibilities.' Now that the campaign has achieved an apology, what's the approach with securing a pardon? 'It's a collective pardon,' says Mitchell, given that the records are incomplete or non-existent. 'We can look at the two pardons that have already taken place. The first was in relation to men convicted of same sex sexual behaviour. People had to apply for it and you wouldn't have to be a top lawyer to work out that nobody's going to be applying for a pardon for women convicted of witchcraft because they can't. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'The next pardon was given to the miners pardoned en masse in relation to offences they were said to have committed during the Miners' Strike. So in the same way we are asking for a pardon for those convicted under The Witchcraft Act 1563-1736. They weren't guilty of the crime they were convicted of, witchcraft. They ought never to have been criminalised and what we got wrong is that women were in league with the devil, doing terrible things. Those people ought to have their name recorded properly in history as people who suffered a miscarriage of justice, not as witches.' Venditozzi is also keen to stress the ongoing impact of accusations of witchcraft and the legacy felt by entire families and descendants. Remember that in the 1600s the population of Scotland was only 900,000 so the chances are if you weren't accused or an accuser of the 4,000, you knew someone who was. By comparison the 1692 Salem witch trials saw 200 accused, 19 killed, and a hasty recognition that it was a big mistake and miscarriage of justice. Whereas in Scotland the trials were led from the top with King James VI publishing Daemonolgie, his own guide for the patriarchy, in 1597, which set the tone and influenced everyone from ordinary citizens to Shakespeare who was inspired to write Macbeth. Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell, KC, present the Witches of Scotland podcast, now running at 70+ episodes | John Devlin The pair stress the gendered nature of the witch hunts, given that 85% of those murdered were women. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Anybody that argues there wasn't a misogynistic, anti-women agenda is mental and clearly a man. Only someone in possession of a penis would look at those figures and go 'it seems pretty fair to me'. I think it's absolutely an attack on women.' Moving onto the third aim of the campaign, a memorial, Mitchell and Venditozzi wrestled with the idea of a statue. 'A statue would take a lot more than the two of us, and a lot of money. We've seen what happened with the Elsie Inglis statue in Edinburgh and we've got zero interest in getting involved with some guy and his sculptural tools. Also where would it go? This happened all over Scotland. There's an amazing witch trials memorial in Norway which is a beautiful piece of art by Louise Bourgeois. What I wouldn't want is a lassie looking out sort of winsomely.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad 'Perhaps with her top slightly falling off the shoulders…' says Mitchell. 'A nice bosom…' says Venditozzi. 'Inexplicably too much detail in the bust…' agrees Mitchell and they laugh. John Devlin | John Devlin With the statue discussion stalled Mitchell was inspired by the opening of the V&A in Dundee in 2018 and its inaugural exhibition, Tartan. 'I saw all ethnicities and ages wearing tartans in different ways and talking about it, and thought how amazing would it be if we could get one made that embodies the stories of the women executed so we could wear it and remember our history. It's not geographically fixed and tartan is universal so people could tell the story all over the world.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Witches of Scotland made contact with Clare Campbell of Prickly Thistle Scotland, who came up with the red, black and white design. 'She said you couldn't have done it with a better piece of cloth because tartan is the story of struggle, resistance, community,' says Mitchell. A kickstarter to raise funds to make the tartan met its £5,000 target on day one, totalled £140,000 within a week and now there's a waiting list for the scarves and throws on the Witches of Scotland website. 'The Witches of Scotland tartan is here to stay,' says Mitchell. 'Zoe and I didn't choose the tartan life, the tartan life chose us! We're just trying to cope with our day jobs, podcast, book coming out and becoming accidental tartaneers.' Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The beauty of the tartan is that it's universal and encapsulates Scotland's past as well as future. 'People now will understand a wee bit more about Scotland's past and how that impacts on our present and future,' says Venditozzi. 'I grew up in Fife and was taught nothing in school about it, so I feel we're reaching people with an aspect of our own lost history.' Coming back to the present day the campaign looks at current inequalities and misogyny such as the epidemic of domestic violence and online hate towards women, and also looks forward in bid to make sure the same mistakes aren't repeated. 'Our campaign is saying when people are othered and blamed for things they could not possibly have done that is a terrible miscarriage of justice and we have to deal with it. It's for women to make their voice heard,' says Mitchell. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Venditozzi agrees: 'Whether it's racism or misogyny, othering, or feminist issues, call it out. Don't sit back. It's really important we say I'm not going to put up with that. If we go quietly then the people that are trying to take away our rights get what they want, which is to silence us. We need to stand up and speak out.' John Devlin | John Devlin 'If you like the ideas you see in the book, the podcast, the tartan, if you like what we're about,' says Mitchell, 'put your elbows out and make space in the world and talk to other women and try and make that difference. Become quarrelsome dames.' How to Kill A Witch is published by Monoray, hardback £20, on 15 May. Claire Mitchell KC & Zoe Venditozzi will appear at Boswell Book Festival on Sunday, 11 May, 5pm and Waterstones Edinburgh Princes Street on Saturday 17 May to talk about their new book How to Kill a Witch.
The Courier
08-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Courier
Witches of Scotland: On 'viral' tartan and How to Kill a Witch
Dr Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell KC are known to many in Dundee as teacher and a human rights lawyer, respectively. They are also the founders of the Witches of Scotland, who in 2022 persuaded then Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon to formally apologise for the injustice of the country's witch trials between the 16th and 18th centuries. And this Saturday, the two self-avowed 'quarrelsome dames' will take their place on the Royal Mile for the capital's inaugural Tartan Parade, to promote a crowdfunded Witches of Scotland tartan, devised as a living memorial for those persecuted over that time. On an evening video call following the duo's Highlands trip to see the Witches of Scotland tartan start rolling off looms at the Prickly Thistle mill near Alness, Zoe admits that seeing the tartan come alive was 'wild'. 'Seeing it actually getting made was just mind-boggling,' she says. The tartan itself has gone viral, taking off across the pond as well as here in Scotland, with fans even getting the pattern painted on their nails. 'We knew it would be popular,' says Zoe. Witches of Scotland tartan. Image: Supplied. 'A lot of people follow what we do, especially in the US and Canada, they're really behind the campaign. 'But I don't think we had any real sense of how genuinely viral it had gone.' Claire, who was based in Dundee until recently, but now lives between Edinburgh and London, adds: 'Even now we're getting several messages a day asking where can I get the tartan, what's going on? Every time you pick up your phone, there are emails and Instagram and TikToks. You're like, 'Ahhhh!'' New book is 'accessible' non-fiction The tartan's popularity is no doubt in part due to the success of Zoe and Clarie's Witches of Scotland podcast, which has seen them gain hundreds of listeners around the world. And the duo are also gearing up to release a book on the subject of Scottish witches – the anticipated How To Kill A Witch – with a special edition decorated in their striking black-and-red tartan. More important, though, is the book's content – a clearly written breakdown of why Scotland's church and state hunted witches and so many women were persecuted. Both campaigners were keen on a non-fiction work, as they were already writers in different ways, Zoe explains. In 2012, the Newport-on-Tay-based teacher published a novel Anywhere's Better Than Here, while her collaborator's career involves what Claire describes as 'very dull' writing. The limited edition tartan cover for How to Kill a Witch. Image: Supplied. Zoe replies: 'But it's factual writing, not made-up, whereas my stuff usually is. 'I've always thought it would be nice to have another source of information people can pick up. It's an artifact that can galvanise readers in a different way.' 'To be a woman, you need a sense of humour' The book's many chilling descriptions of torture and executions, such as that of Girzell Simpson in Forfar, are balanced by the authors' dry wit – an important touch, Zoe believes, not least for themselves. She says: 'To survive being a woman, you need a sense of humour, cause otherwise you would just implode with rage.' Claire adds: 'Eminent experts have written about the Witchcraft Act and the trials, but because they're proper historians, some of their books are very big academic tomes and very dense. 'Our campaign is about making things as accessible as possible. 'We hope somebody that might not pick up an academic book picks this up and learns broadly about who brought the act in, how trials took place and their relevance today.' 'We have to be on our guard' says Zoe Zoe points out their work is not just a factual retelling, but 'a rallying cry' for contemporary women, as persecution against 'witches' still occurs in parts of Africa, including Nigeria, Malawi and Ghana. 'Our book is overtly feminist – it's a call to arms,' she says. 'The point is to say 'this is what happens and it's starting to happen again in different ways'. 'In the States, women's rights are under attack and everywhere humans try and find vulnerable people to blame when things go wrong, like immigrants in boats. 'We have to be on our guard.' How To Kill A Witch by Zoe Venditozzi and Claire Mitchell is published on May 15 2025. The authors appear at Toppings, St Andrews on May 16, and as part of Dundee Book Festival on June 14.
Euronews
26-02-2025
- Euronews
A living memorial: Witches of Scotland tartan honours the victims of witch hunts
Tartan is more than patterned cloth in Scotland. Specific tartans were linked to clans and regions, and the designs carry symbolic meaning. Modern tartans are registered for organisations, individuals, and commemorative purposes in the official Scottish Register of Tartans and the newest entry is special. The new Witches of Scotland tartan is a memorial for the people - primarily women - falsely persecuted under Scotland's Witchcraft Act which was in place between 1563 and 1736. The decree defined witchcraft as a crime and resulted in the executions and burnings of thousands. The new tartan, registered on 11 February, is part of a campaign to bring attention to these unjustified executions across Scotland and to remind people of historical injustices that stemmed from the desire to subjugate women, stigmatize folk medicine and persecute those who practiced midwifery. The Scottish Register of Tartans states: "This design was created to memorialise those who suffered as a result of The Witchcraft Act 1563 to 1736 in Scotland. This tartan will be woven to make products to help create a 'living memorial'." According to The Wild Hunt, the tartan was desined by Clare Campbell, founder of the Prickly Thistle tartan mill. The Witches of Scotland tartan is predominantly black, grey and red – colours which represent the dark chapter of history, as well as its bloody outcome. Grey symbolises ash, pink stands for the legal tapes binding trial documents, while red stands for bloodshed. The thread count encodes the years 1563 and 1736 (1+5+6+3 = 15 and 1+7+3+6 = 17), with these numbers woven into black and grey bands surrounding a white check of three threads, symbolizing the campaign's three objectives. These are securing 1) a legal pardon; 2) a formal apology; 3) national memorials for those convicted and executed. The 173 threads in the tartan's squares symbolise the number of years the Witchcraft Act was enforced. Founded in 2020 by Claire Mitchell KC and Zoe Venditozzi, Witches of Scotland has campaigned for justice. In 2022, on International Women's Day, then-First Minister Nicola Sturgeon acknowledged the historic injustice and issued a formal apology. "Firstly, acknowledging injustice, no matter how historic is important,' said Sturgeon at the time. 'This parliament has issued, rightly so, formal apologies and pardons for the more recent historic injustices suffered by gay men and by miners.' "Second, for some, this is not yet historic. There are parts of our world where even today, women and girls face persecution and sometimes death because they have been accused of witchcraft.' She continued: 'And thirdly, fundamentally, while here in Scotland the Witchcraft Act may have been consigned to history a long time ago, the deep misogyny that motivated it has not. We live with that still. Today it expresses itself not in claims of witchcraft, but in everyday harassment, online rape threats and sexual violence.' Despite Sturgeon's acknowledgment, no official pardon has yet been granted.
