- Also called:
- devil’s hour
- Related Topics:
- Witchcraft
witching hour
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What is the witching hour in folklore?
In folklore, the witching hour is the time of night when witches and supernatural powers are considered strongest, typically at midnight or 3:00 a.m.. Folkloric beliefs suggest the boundary between the living and the dead blurs during this time, increasing sensitivity to spirits. Witches, sorcerers, and fairies are believed to harness stronger powers during these hours to carry out their mischief or dark practices.
William Shakespeare's Hamlet and Elizabeth Carolina Keene's poem "Nightmare" are early literary references to the witching hour. Nordic folklore suggests that unmarried women could see their future spouse by looking into a well at midnight on Midsummer’s Eve. Additionally, 19th-century Irish poet Lady Jane Wilde noted that certain Irish love charms and harm-averting rituals involved tonics consumed at midnight or graveyard visits at that hour.
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When is the witching hour believed to take place?
The witching hour, in folklore, is the time when witches and supernatural beings are thought to be most powerful. It is commonly believed to occur at midnight or 3:00 am. Some beliefs specify the witching hour as the time between 12:00 am and 3:00 am, or between 3:00 am and 4:00 am.
The association of witches with midnight comes from folk beliefs that supernatural phenomena are most common at certain times. Midnight, like solstices and equinoxes, was considered a magical time that allowed unpredictable and possibly malevolent events to occur. During the witching hour, the boundary between the living and the dead blurs, making the living more sensitive to spirits.
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Why do people think the witching hour is special or mysterious?
The witching hour, typically midnight or 3:00 am, is considered a time when witches and supernatural powers are at their peak. This association is rooted in folk beliefs that supernatural events are more likely to occur at certain times, with midnight seen as a time that evokes magic and blurs the boundary between the living and the dead. During this hour, spirits and supernatural figures like witches and fairies are believed to have stronger powers, engaging in mischief and dark practices. The term has also come to refer to times of unpredictable activity.
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Which supernatural creatures are connected to the witching hour in stories?
In folklore, the witching hour, often set at midnight or 3:00 am, is when supernatural entities' powers peak. Folk beliefs suggest the boundary between the living and the dead blurs, increasing sensitivity to spirits.
Witches, sorcerers, fairies, and other spirits are believed to be more powerful during this time, engaging in mischief and dark practices. References to the witching hour appear in literature as early as Shakespeare's Hamlet.
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How have different cultures described or explained the witching hour?
The witching hour, in folklore, is the time of night when witches and supernatural powers are at their strongest, typically at midnight or 3:00 a.m.. Rooted in folk beliefs, the association of witches with midnight stems from the idea that supernatural events are more likely to occur at certain times, blurring the boundary between the living and the dead.
In Nordic cultures, unmarried women could supposedly see their future spouse by looking into a well at midnight on Midsummer’s Eve. According to Irish folklore, love charms and rituals against harm involved tonics taken at midnight or visits to graveyards or churches at that time. The inversion of the time of Jesus' death, calculated to be 3:00 p.m., was considered the "devil's hour".
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How is the idea of the witching hour used in modern books, movies, or traditions?
The witching hour, folklore's time when supernatural powers peak, typically at midnight or 3:00 am, has evolved in modern usage.
In contemporary books and movies, the witching hour is a popular theme. For example, The Witching Hour, a novel by Anne Rice, explores a family of witches in New Orleans.
The term also colloquially refers to times of volatile activity, such as a baby's colicky sleep or the final hours of stock trading.
In Nordic folklore, Midsummer's Eve at midnight was believed to reveal a woman's future spouse if she peered into a well.
2 Britannica SourcesCreated from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
witching hour, in folklore, the time at night when the powers of witches and other supernatural beings are believed to be strongest, usually occurring at midnight or 3:00 am. The term also has a modern colloquial meaning that refers to a time of unpredictable or volatile activity, such as the unsettled, colicky sleep of infants or the final hours of stock trading.
Traditional usage
The association of witches with midnight is rooted in folk beliefs that supernatural phenomena are most prevalent at certain times of the day and year. Much like seasonal events, such as the solstices and equinoxes, midnight was deemed to evoke magic, allowing for unpredictable and possibly malevolent happenings. It is said that during the witching hour the boundary between the living and the dead becomes blurred and the living are more sensitive to the spirits of the dead. Witches, sorcerers, and fairies were among the spirits and figures believed to have stronger powers during these times and to carry out their mischief or dark practices at night.
Some beliefs set the witching hour’s boundaries between 12:00 am and 3:00 am or between 3:00 am and 4:00 am. Biblical references to the death of Jesus were calculated as having occurred at 3:00 pm. Accepting this calculation, the inversion or opposite of this time was then considered the “devil’s hour.”
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In literature and folklore
In literature one of the earliest references to the witching hour appears in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet, in which Prince Hamlet begins one of his soliloquies:
’Tis now the very witching time of night,
When churchyards yawn, and hell itself breathes out
Contagion to this world. Now could I drink hot blood
And do such bitter business as the day
Would quake to look on.…
Although this soliloquy, which was written between 1599 and 1601, mentions “the very witching time of night,” one of the first recorded uses of the term witching hour appears in the poem “Nightmare” by Elizabeth Carolina Keene, from her collection Miscellaneous Poems, published in 1762. In modern times American author Anne Rice published The Witching Hour in 1990, the first novel in a best-selling trilogy about a family of witches living in New Orleans.
The folklore of many cultures offers advice on how to ward off supernatural powers or harness them to one’s advantage, with specific instructions on what to do at the stroke of midnight. In the folk beliefs of Nordic (Scandinavian) cultures, for example, an unmarried woman could see the face of her future spouse by peering into a well at midnight on Midsummer’s Eve. According to 19th-century Irish poet and folklorist Lady Jane Wilde, a number of Irish love charms and rituals against harm involved tonics taken at midnight or visits to graveyards or churches at that particular time.
Contemporary usage
In modern times the term witching hour has become an colloquialism for other periods of unpredictable or troublesome activity. Parents may use it to describe the fussy period in infancy when a baby tends to cry continuously, usually during the same time each day and at night. In investing, the witching hour is the last hour of trading before stock options, futures, and indexes expire, which occurs on the third Friday of each month. When multiple types of derivatives contracts expire on the same day, it is called double or triple witching. Such periods are characterized by high levels of activity and volatility as traders rush to roll out and close expiring contracts to maximize their profits.
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