Being a witchy woman in old-time Phoenix


I just finished watching "Room on the Broom", which is on Netflix, and I enjoyed the animation, and the wonderful little story. It also got me thinking about old-time Phoenix, and being a witchy woman. I think that I can answer most questions about why we have an image of a witch which looks that way, and for the stuff I can't do, I'm hoping that you, dear reader, can help me out here.

Let's time-travel to old-time Phoenix, a little over 100 years ago, and if you have no objection, you're going to be a witchy woman. I'm going to start with something that's very confusing nowadays, to both men and women of, uh, age, and that's thinness. A witchy woman was thin.

Nowadays, of course, "thin is in". All of my life women have wanted to be as thin as possible. When I was a kid, a popular model was so thin that she called herself "Twiggy". But before that, thin was kinda creepy, and being a bit plump was a sign of robust health. And a lot of women who had lived a long time were not in that kind of health. Like I say, this is hard to imagine for us now, but women didn't want to be "twiggy" back in the days old-time Phoenix that we're visiting.

So, to be a witchy woman in old-time Phoenix you would have to be rail thin. Your thinness might be also caused by something that younger people hadn't experienced as much of - losing teeth. There's a reason that the stereotypical witch has a jutting chin - that's what happens when you lose all (or almost all) of your teeth. And another thing that naturally happens with age is your nose continuing to grow. Speaking for myself, I've never had a small nose, and it seems to get more prominent every day, and since I figure that I have another 20-30 years of life, I'll be watching my nose grow. The witch in the illustration up there has something on her nose, it could be a mole, it could be a wart, it could be a pimple. These things happen.

Of course you're going to have a broom. Women tend to keep their houses clean, and brooms were once made like that. And even if there were a newer model designed, older people tend to stick with what they know, and what they like. The shawl would be to keep her shoulders warm, and her dress would be ragged because, well, she probably couldn't afford a new dress, or to have it repaired. Note the shoes, which were typical of the turn of the century and late 1800s. When this witchy woman was young, they were in style.

Of course, as a witchy woman you'll need a kettle, and your secret recipes would fire the imagination of the kids in the neighborhood. Probably magic potions! The cat is a nice touch.

Still, I have to admit that I'm stuck on the reason for the witch's hat. No Halloween costume of a witch is complete without it, and it could be a Wizard's hat, but I can't explain the brim. If you know, please tell me! Also the red hair puzzles me. My hair started going grey in my thirties and was completely grey by my late forties. Did women used to color their hair back then? I have no idea.

Thank you for being a witchy woman!

Raven hair and ruby lips,
Sparks fly from her fingertips.
Echoed voices in the night,
She's a restless spirit on an endless flight.
Woo hoo, witchy woman.
See how high she flies.
Woo hoo, witchy woman,
She got the moon in her eye.

-Don Henley
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