The witches of my great-grandmother’s youth were very different from the witches of our modern pop culture. They were malicious entities who blighted the crops or called forth storms; they sucked the blood of their victims and turned into giant balls of fire. There was even a town inhabited by witches in the mountains where she lived. Such folklore was typical of many central Mexican towns and seemed to mix both European and pre-Hispanic elements. For example, in pre-Hispanic lore witches were “born,” and the day of their birth determined their fate. However, some of the methods for catching
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