The Nordic Witches Festival

With the witches festival upon us, it is the time of the year when milk-drinkers will curl up under their bedsheets and whisper prayers to the divines, begging to be kept safe from Daedra, undead or other unspeakable horrors. While a true Nord knows that there is nothing good steel and a strong will cannot defeat, we still celebrate the Witches Festival and enjoy terrifying tales that chill the blood here in the domain of Kyne.

It is a little known fact that the Witches Festival began as a Nordic tradition. The final week of Frostfall marks an important time for many clans of Reachmen. Every year on the final day of Frostfall they stage many dark rituals to their twisted gods. Worked into a frenzy by their shamanistic witches the Reachmen would often lead raids on lands on this night. Some raids were carried out to honour their dark gods others to take advantage of boons they received from these gods. The Reach-witches claimed the gates of Oblivion were open at this time and so they oft made pacts with their dread gods or other nefarious powers from beyond our world. For this reason these raiding parties were not just made up of Reachmen but also lycanthropes, Hagravens, Lurchers and on occasion bound Daedra.

In order to deal with this barbaric tradition, Nords of the Reach and Haafingar  began to carry out pre-emptive attacks on the Reachmen. At first the Nordic armies were made up of only local Nords ,wishing to protect their families and homes, but soon stories of the glorious battles in the Reach spread and Nords came from far and wide to partake in these purges of the Reach. The Witch-hunters of Direfrost often led these forays into the depth of the Reach and they're expertise in dealing with the servants of the Daedra proved invaluable. At times bands of Redguards and Bretons  would join with the Nordic armies, like the Nords they hoped to protect their lands from the ravages of the Reach-witches. These foreign warriors brought stories of the Nordic festivals home with them and so the festival began to spread beyond Skyrim.

Gradually the once heathen festival of dark magic shifted into a week long Nordic festival, celebrating the yearly triumphs over the Reachmen. Nowadays the final two weeks of Frostfall are marked by celebrating victory over witches all across Tamriel, though in some parts this is turned on it's head and some use this festival to celebrate magic and it's users no matter how nefarious their purpose, this ridiculous glorification of evil typifies the ignorance most southerners have for all matters north of Bruma. And so while you gather around a fire to hear tales of Vampires , Falmer and other unholy beasts, take a moment to remember the brave Nords who fought and died so the North would be spared the fiendish workings of witches.

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