Halloween: in the land of witches, children are no longer afraid

A day at the Witchcraft Museum

Halloween is the feast of evil creatures and big scares! At the Sorcery Museum in Berry, we take the opposite of tradition. Here, children discover that witches are not mean and learn how to make magic potions.

Overcome the fear of witches 

Stepping into the first room of the museum, plunged into semi-darkness, the sorcerer’s apprentices remain silent and open their eyes wide. Fortunately, the small troop of visitors, aged 3 to 6, quickly found the use of speech: “This is the house of witches, here!” Simon, 4, whispers with a hint of anxiety in his voice. “Are you a real witch?” “, asks Gabriel to Crapaudine, the guide of the Witchcraft Museum, in charge of the visit. “I’m not even afraid of real witches, not even afraid of wolves!” I’m afraid of nothing ! Nathan and Emma boast. “Me, when it’s very dark, I’m afraid, but I put a light in my room,” says Alexiane. As always, thehe main question for toddlers is whether wicked witches exist for real. Crapaudine explains that in tales, stories and cartoons, they are bad, that in the Middle Ages, they were burned because they were afraid of them, but that in truth, they are nice. This is what the three workshops offered during the Magic Afternoons will demonstrate. The tour continues with the witches’ favorite animals. Morgane and Louane hold hands while contemplating the dragon. He’s their best friend, they ride on his back when their broom is broken, and he lights the fire under their cauldron. Do you know another friend? The black Cat. It has only one white coat, and if you can find it and pull it out, it’s good luck! The toad is also their friend, they make magic potion with his slime. There is also the bat that only comes out at night, the spider and its web, the owl, the owl, the black crow from Maleficent. Crapaudine points out that the witch always has an animal with her when she walks on her broom. “Does she have a wolf?” Simon asks.

No, it’s the wolf leader who guards the wolves. He crosses the countryside and the forests and asks for food. If the peasant accepts, he gives him the power to heal the wounds of the wolf. And when the Wolf Leader dies, the gift goes with him. A little further, the little ones are happy to find wizards and fantastic creatures they know well, Merlin the Enchanter and Madame Mim, druids like Panoramix in Asterix and Obelix, a werewolf, Baba Yaga, half witch half ogress… In the next room, they discover a Sabbath, the witches’ festival. They prepare magic potions and healing potions. Well informed about who the witches really were, children are no longer impressed, old fears are passed. The guide is satisfied because the goal of these afternoons is that at the exit, young and old become their friends. Crapaudine details the recipe for flying on your broom: make your own broom with seven different woods, apply an ointment made with 99 boogers, 3 drops of bat blood, 3 granny hairs and 3 dung Chavignol. ” It works ? Enzo asks suspiciously. “You have to add plants that make you dream, like that, you dream that you are flying and it works! », Crapaudine replies.

Workshop: witches knew how to heal with plants 

After the strong emotions, head for the garden, in the company of Pétrusque, the director of the museum, to workshop to discover plants used by witches. Humans can only eat one in four plants, the rest are poisons. Since ancient times, women have had to learn to pick leaves, roots, fruits and edible berries for food and care. Witches were in fact healers, and the remedies of the “good women” of yesteryear were our medicines today. It wasn’t black magic, it was medicine! Petrusque shows children poisonous plants that must not be touched, even if they are attractive, under penalty of serious accident. During a walk in the forest, in the countryside, in the mountains, many little ones take vital risks because they are unaware of the danger. Belladonna fruits that look like mouthwatering black cherries, candy-like orange red arum berries are poison. Very attentive, the sorcerer’s apprentices evoke the poisoned apple that Snow White eats, and the spinning wheel that plunges Sleeping Beauty into a hundred years’ slumber. Pétrusque exhibits seeds of black henbane: “If we eat it, we hallucinate that we turn into a pig, bear, lion, wolf, eagle!” “Datura seeds:” If you take three, you forget everything that happened for three days! Nobody wants to taste it. Next come the deadly hemlock or “devil’s parsley” which looks like parsley, oleander which contains cyanide, two three leaves in a stew and

it is the end ! The snapdragons, beautiful clusters of indigo blue flowers that cause lightning death if ingested. The fern, with its harmless appearance, contains an active ingredient that destroys the optic nerve of young children. With the mandrake, the plant of wizards par excellence, Pétrusque has a great success! Its root looks like a human body and when you pull it out, it screams, and you die, like in Harry Potter! Ultimately, the children have understood that the only plants that can be eaten without risk are nettles. Small precaution all the same: in order not to be stung, it is necessary to seize them while going up. We learn things from it at the sorcerer’s school!