11/02/2023
The official statement of Festival of the Dead on what happened on Salem Common on Halloween Night, 2023, as shown in the video within the first comment. Please share in solidarity with Witches and other persecuted religious minorities.
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On Tuesday, October 31st, Christian Day, Brian Cain, and Salem Witches gathered for their annual circle on Salem Common to celebrate our loved ones who have crossed over to spirit and the magic of the Witches' New Year.
Like they had in 2022, a religious group showed up ready to protest. They were disruptive last year, joining in the spiral dance with signs celebrating Christ, but this did not bother us as much because this is a holiday in honor of the dead and, without addressing the debate of whether he's since risen or not, Jesus is as much a part of the beloved dead as all of the others we celebrate in spirit.
This year, Christian Day prepared by approaching three of the protesters, shaking their hands, and explaining that the space within our circle is sacred, and different than the space without it, and that, while they were perfectly welcome to stand with all our guests at the perimeter, and to dance the spiral dance, that they should be mindful of the process and respect that people are there from all walks of life to honor their loved ones. Many of those present at our circle are Christian and always have been. Many are Witches who come from places where Witches are not as safe to feel safe in Salem, a city that prides itself on being a “no place for hate” community. The older gentleman who had protested in 2022 nodded and smiled at Christian and said he would be respectful and the other two nodded in agreement.
There were about a dozen police from both Salem and nearby communities present at the event due to the same group having caused trouble the year prior.
However, just before the ending of the ritual where Christian was to ask guests to chant and call out the names of their beloved dead, two of the protesters (though, thankfully, not the older gentleman who actually kept his word to Christian) came into the circle with a full-sized cross and brought it over to our altar and was screaming and preaching and creating safety hazards by bringing such a large and cumbersome object within range of sound speakers, our altar, and those standing in the center of the circle. Our district manager, Kaylyn Elizabeth Borel, asked the police to remove the protesters from the circle as the police had done in 2022, explaining that this was the equivalent of our church, but was told by the police that their lieutenant said to do nothing.
Brian Cain asked the crowd over the microphone to just ignore the protesters and to continue with the magic. However, getting Witches to follow instructions can sometimes be like herding cats, and a number came into the center of the circle to surround the protesters. Still, the police did nothing.
At this point, Christian called out on the microphone that guests should all march to City Hall in protests. It was at this time that the police came in and surrounded the protesters. We totally understand why to a point. For those who do not know, these religious protests are anything but religious. Yes, those on the ground are devoted, but their leadership strategizes these protests at Witchcraft, gay pride, and other events to provoke the police into arresting them so they can then can claim persecution of Christians and send out mass fundraising letters across America to raise money for right-wing Christian causes. We understand why the police couldn't move them once they entered the circle, but they absolutely should have kept them from entering to begin with and this was a municipal failure.
Salem, along with communities throughout the world, must realize that we are in a post-Covid world, where someone's idea of religious protest is to hang glide into music festivals and murder pregnant women, babies, and children. Regardless of whether fundamentalism comes from Muslim, Christian, or any other belief system, we must take the very threat of fundamentalism seriously. We are years away from Timothy McVeigh, Eric Rudolph, and Paul Hill, but that kind of violent, Christian extremism is ripe for a comeback in these tumultuous times and we must be ready for it.
Christian has spoken with both Mayor Dominick Pangallo and Police Chief Lucas J. Miller and they were completely understanding. Chief Miller even said to Christian, “I know that this [meaning nature] is your temple.” He was so appreciative that the head of law enforcement in Salem has taken the time to understand who Witches are. Chief Miller offered to meet with Christian further to prevent these incidents in the future, suggesting a permit would help. We were not allowed permits in the past and so we were under the umbrella of the permit obtained by the Special Projects department of Salem. Chief Miller made it clear that having our own permit would give the actual space more protection and so we look forward to that.
If we have any critique of Chief Miller's good leadership at all, it is that I don't think this should have been left in the charge of a lieutenant because the threats of religious extremism are greater than they've ever been. But we certainly feel confident that Chief Miller understands this now.
While we know that the police are [often correctly] trained to have a stance that clearly says, “don't mess with me,” more sensitivity could have been shown here and we say that not because we do not support the police and the hard work they do for their communities, but because, by surrounding the protesters and facing the rest of the crowd with stern looks and poses, they sent the wrong message to the crowd itself.
Dozens of circle guests came up to us and said things to the effect of, "why are the police protecting them and not us? This is our sacred holiday." We were able to tell those individuals that, while we may be upset that the police did not prevent entry into our circle, they felt that they did not have a choice but to stand there and prevent violence from either side, even if it meant being in the center of our sacred circle. We do think that the protesters should have been moved and we encourage the city of Salem's legal department to find ways that this can take place going forward.
With the number of people who came up to us and expressed that they did not see the wonderfully tolerant city that Salem actually is, how many of those thousand Witches and their supporters walked away without saying anything, feeling unsafe as magical people in one of the most magical cities in the world? Salem is a city where Witches have resided mostly in peace for decades and the police have graciously been a part of that peace. The police department even has flying Witches on the side of their cars! Still, there was a collective breakdown here and I look forward to being part of the strategy to prevent it in the future and we are confident that our Mayor Pangallo and Police Chief Miller will be heartfelt parts of that discussion. Whatever mistakes were made on their end or ours in not being properly prepared, the religious fanatics should consider themselves on notice. You won't have this opportunity to persecute us in the Witch City again.
Blessings,
Christian Day and Brian Cain
Festival of the Dead
Salem, Massachusetts
