Tuesday, February 18, 2014
The Witch's Skin
As all 3 Puerto Rican myths were interesting, although the first one was hard to read without hugging my dog, I have to address my high interest in "The Witch's Skin". A friend interpreted it as a moral sorry meaning that one should be careful who they trust, however, I think it has to do a lot with religion. The article attatched by Peter J. Hamilton discussed in a section that the Puerto Rico believed in holy spirits. With this religious background, I assumed that this is a story about lust, which is one of the seven deadly sins. The young man pursued the witch because she was young and beautiful. Witches magic is said to be strong and manipulating, however, I believe it was because the young man chose the witch for the wrong reasons with the understanding that the witch did not have good intentions anyways. At the end, the husband cleanses the witch with spices and the power of the sun. The witch yelled out against religion while dying and even when she took off her skin. This draws back to the idea of religion and lust. Is this a cautionary tale about lust?
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Hi,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your interpretation, I definitely agree that "The Witches Skin," is a tale strongly centered around religion. Right off the bat, we see the Devil and his followers (witches) being the center of the story, a direct call out to the heavily religious Porto Rican population.
Also, I do agree with your point regarding lust and it's prominence in this particular myth. It is no different from present day in the sense that men pursue the young and beautiful to satisfy their longing, and I found it very interesting that it was a big part of folklore back then as well.