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| - As with most aspects of Witchcraft the Sabbats, or assemblies at which Witches meet on certain days of the year, have been distorted by Christianity. Most of these distortions evolved out of the Witch Hunts which occurred during the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. The sabbats were depicted as meetings where obscene behavior occurred such as worshiping and copulating with the Devil after a session of dancing, merry making and feasting on a fowl, animal or unbaptized babies, a Witch's Initiation. However, the origins of the sabbats seem to be a mixture of rites that still exist, such as the great Druidic festivals of Beltane (observed April 30) and Samhain (observed October 31), and the entrenched idea that heretics held obscene rituals. Possibly the sabbats also are related to the Bacchanalian, of Bacchus and Saturnalian Rites, of Saturn observed by the Greeks and Romans. The term sabbat is from the Old French and is partially derived from the Hebrew Shabbath, "to rest," which pertains to the seventh day of the week as designated by the Ten Commandments in the Bible as a day devoted to rest and worship. Some historians theorized that the derogatory connotation of sabbat as it was applied to heretics and witches was possibly Anti-Semitic since Jews also were classified as heretics. Another term which was synonymously used with sabbat was the synagogues in which heretics and sometimes witches supposedly met. Sabbat was more prominently used in continental Europe where the witch-hunts were more fierce than it was in England. There is no record of a witch sabbat in England prior to 1620, except for the mention of the term in the Lancaster Witch Trials of 1612. The term was first introduced in an Inquisition trial at Toulouse, France in 1335. It along with Sabbath did not appear regularly until the mid-15th century. Once it made its appearance in trials it quickly assumed common usage. The times and locations that the sabbats were held were quickly and definitely fixed too. They were said to be held at night in remote locations such as mountains, caves, and deep forest areas. The Brocken in the Harz Mountains of Germany was the best known place for holding sabbats. There, one of the greatest feasts was said to occur on Walpurgisnacht (Beltane), April 30. The witches’ modes of transportation to the sabbats were quite imaginary. Witches were said to have flew through the night either on the backs of Demons that had Metempsychosed into animals, or astride of Broomsticks. The witches themselves sometimes changed into animals and were accompanied by their Familiars. They were said to fly home before daybreak. The sabbat nights varied. Some witches said to have attended weekly sabbats while others said the only went once or twice a year.
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