Carlo Ginzburg and the Study of Microhistory
Carlo Ginzburg is a famous Italian historian who focuses on microhistory, a field that examines small, detailed aspects of history to uncover broader cultural practices. His work often investigates the overlap between folklore, religion, and power structures, particularly in early modern Europe. Ginzburg is known for his efforts to reconstruct the beliefs and rituals of everyday people.
In his book Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath, Ginzburg expands his earlier research by studying the origins of the witches’ Sabbath and how it connects to ancient shamanistic traditions across Europe. He claims that many ideas linked to European witchcraft—such as traveling at night, turning into animals, and fertility rituals—are echoes of ancient shamanic practices that managed to survive even after the spread of Christianity.
The Myth of the Wild Hunt
One of the central topics Ginzburg explores in Ecstasies is the Wild Hunt, a mythological event led by supernatural beings like Odin, Diana, Perchta/Holda and Berchthold, among other localized deities, often known in the rural areas of Europe. The Wild Hunt is tied to themes like fertility, seasonal changes, and farming cycles. People were believed to travel at night in spirit form, sometimes accompanied by animals or even turning into animals themselves. Ginzburg connects this myth to older European rituals involving agriculture. These rituals often involved humans working with supernatural forces to promote fertility and prosperity. For example, he draws parallels to the Benandanti, a group that claimed to fight witches at night to protect their crops (see Ecstasies, pp. 133–135).
Animal Transformations in Folklore
Animal transformations play a big role in Ginzburg’s analysis. In European folklore, people participating in ecstatic rituals often described becoming animals like wolves or hares during their spiritual journeys. These transformations symbolized a link to nature and the supernatural, similar to the practices of Siberian shamans. For example, Baltic werewolves claimed to leave their bodies in spirit form to fight for their community’s fertility. Ginzburg notes that this resembles Siberian shamans, who also took on animal identities during rituals (see Ecstasies, pp. 140–142). These stories show a shared cultural belief where humans and animals were deeply connected in spiritual practices.
Comparisons to Siberian Shamanism
Ginzburg compares European folklore to the shamanistic traditions of Siberia, especially among the Buryats. The Buryat people believe in a three-layered universe—heaven, earth, and the underworld—connected by a cosmic pillar. Shamans traveled between these realms during ecstatic rituals, often using drumming or hallucinogens. They communicated with spirits or ancestors to solve problems like crop failures or communal struggles. Sometimes, these shamans would adopt animal forms to navigate the spirit world or fight cosmic battles for fertility. Ginzburg finds similarities between these practices and European traditions, such as the Baltic and Germanic motif of werewolves and the Wild Hunt, both of which involved spiritual journeys tied to agricultural needs.
Research on Buryat Shamanism and Cosmology
Eric M. Stephen’s paper, Shamanic Rituals and Religio-Cultural Revival, dives deeply into Buryat shamanic traditions, their cosmology, and how these practices have been revived in modern times. The Buryat worldview divides the universe into three connected realms: the Upperworld, where gods reside; the Middleworld, home to humans; and the Lowerworld, inhabited by harmful spirits. These realms are linked by the “Golden Pillar,” a cosmic axis used by shamans to connect with the spiritual worlds during rituals.
The Tailgan Ritual: Honoring Ancestors and Nature
The paper discusses the tailgan, a ritual of communal sacrifice meant to honor ancestor spirits (ongons) or local deities (ežens). Shamans enter trance states to channel spirits and act as mediators between humans and the spiritual world. For example, on Olkhon Island—a sacred site in Buryat cosmology—a Tengeri shaman reportedly communicated with the Spirit Master of Baikal. This spirit provided guidance for yearly rituals aimed at addressing environmental issues. The ritual reflects the Buryat emphasis on harmony between nature and spirituality, integrating ecological concerns with spiritual practices.
Connections to Carlo Ginzburg’s Work
Stephen’s findings align with Carlo Ginzburg’s analysis in Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches’ Sabbath. Ginzburg identifies similar shamanistic elements in European folklore, such as ecstatic journeys, animal transformations, and rituals tied to fertility. For instance, Baltic werewolves described leaving their bodies to protect crops, a practice that parallels Buryat shamans’ spiritual battles for balance and agricultural prosperity. Both traditions emphasize connecting the human and supernatural realms through trances, suggesting a similar cognitive and cultural organization and structure of both pre-Christian European and Eurasian healing-systems.
A Shared Shamanic Past
Ginzburg argues that these practices point to an ancient Eurasian shamanic tradition that predates Christianity. He identifies recurring patterns—such as spiritual journeys, animal transformations, and fertility rites—that suggest these traditions have a shared origin in ancient shamanism. While these practices persisted into early modern Europe, they were often reinterpreted and condemned as diabolical witchcraft by Christian authorities. By placing European witchcraft beliefs in this broader Eurasian context, Ginzburg challenges the view that witchcraft is solely a Christian invention. Instead, he shows that its roots run deep in pre-Christian spiritual cosmological healing-systems.
A New Perspective on Witchcraft
Ecstasies offers a fascinating look at how ancient shamanic traditions influenced European folklore and witchcraft stories. Ginzburg’s exploration of myths like the Wild Hunt, animal transformations, Winter animal-masquerades (see ‘Wilder Mann’ from French photographer Charles Freger) across Europe and farming rituals demonstrates how pre-Christian beliefs survived under layers of Christian reinterpretation.
References:
https://www.folklore.ee/folklore/vol4/hoppal.htm
https://scholar.harvard.edu/files/eric_m_stephen/files/asn_paper.pdf