Sheril KirshenbaumDec 20, 2022

For thousands of years, fermenting beer was considered a household task for #women.

By the Middle Ages, some sold beer at English markets. Female brewers wore tall, pointy hats to be easily spotted. They stood by cauldrons & often had cats to keep mice away.

Sound familiar? It should.

You see, when male brewers felt threatened, they accused the women of witchcraft. These rumors may have led to some witch iconography we still recognize today.

https://theconversation.com/women-used-to-dominate-the-beer-industry-until-the-witch-accusations-started-pouring-in-155940 #history #HistoryRemix

Women used to dominate the beer industry – until the witch accusations started pouring in

Today, beer is marketed to men and the industry is run by men. It wasn’t always that way.

The Conversation
Show threadBierFrau♀️♀️
@Sheril while some of this is true, the portrayal of witches with pointy hats didn't show up until ~17C, long after brewing had been taken over by men. In medieval times, witches were more portrayed as naked and doing orgies with demons.
Dec 20, 2022 at 12:10pmWeb
Show threadJohn Mark  ☑️Dec 20, 2022
@TheBierFrau @Sheril so... where do I sign up?
Show threadAcculation IncDec 21, 2022

@TheBierFrau @Sheril Agree many alternate explanations of these common items, although this is a good story.

For example, one explanation for the pointy "old crone's hat" goes back to the "Berlin Golden Hat" circa 1400 BC Europe, a type of encoded calendar worn by a 'wise old Time Lord" with a "magical" knowledge to decipher the calendar, vital in that ag society.

https://www.thiscityknows.com/golden-hats-europes-mysterious-bronze-age-artifacts/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_hat

'Course pointy hats were just common garb at one point (eg Puritans).

Golden hats: Europe’s mysterious Bronze Age artifacts

The Golden hats are rare Bronze Age artifacts that have been puzzling archaeologists and other experts for decades.

This City Knows
Show threadStien HeremansDec 21, 2022
@TheBierFrau @Sheril that's probably when the association caused by systematically protraying brewers as witches took hold in broader society
Show threadBierFrau♀️♀️Dec 21, 2022
@geostien @Sheril I suspect it's another one of those "just so" stories that plagues popular history. It sounds like it fits and gets spread around by multiple magazines and blogs all quoting each other, but the actual evidence for it is nonexistent.