I'm Fascinated by Ignorance and Superstition.

Carol Posted on October 25 2016

As an ex high school math teacher my road map to life consists of logic and formulas.

Spock & Supremacists - I'm currently reading a book about White Supremacists and their "Logic" behind being Holocaust deniers. (Please stick with me this really is a fun post!)

Tomato - The Red Demon - This lead me to thinking about the tomato. Yes, The Tomato. You see back in the 1500s people were very superstitions and anything new and unusual was immediately cast off as dangerous. When the tomato reached European shores it was blamed for Witchcraft and Werewolves.

Devil Ointments - Religious Zealots told their congregations that tomatoes were used in Flying Ointments by Witches. These Flying Ointments were rubbed on the broomsticks or the witches themselves to make them fly to meet the Devil. Or the witches could rub it on unsuspecting victims and they would be turned into Werewolves.

Executions - Between 1300 and 1650, thousands of Europeans (mostly women) were executed for practicing witchcraft, in a church-and-government-sanctioned mass hysteria academics call the "witch craze." Women were burned, drowned, hanged, and crushed after trials in both secular and religious courts; and lynched by vigilante mobs.

Spanish Save Tomatoes - Only to be used for La Tomatina Festival! The Spanish Inquisition saved the tomato by declaring any belief in witchcraft as heretical. PHEW!

Gardens? But not so fast. In Winchester, Massachusetts there was a law on the books banning tomato gardens—an artifact of early 20th century anti-Italian racism, meant to keep the neighborhood cleanly Anglo-Saxon.

How's this for Ignorance and Superstition?

Well I got carried away with the tomatoes so next week I'll tell you my tomato adventure. Promise.
I hope you will enjoy my friend Kathy's tomato print below. Click on the picture if you would like to see more of her work and she has great cards too!