Satan and Sathan: the Devil, the Familiar and the Witch
The witch's familiar, said to be a half-animal, half-demon hybrid was integral to the witch trials in England and New England. The role of the familiar became so important that that it literally became the law in the Massachusetts Bay Colony--to be a witch was to interact with a familiar. To be a witch was a crime punishable by death. But the witch's familiar has perplexed historians for years. Krystina Yeager has began to explore the belief in the witch's familiar and how it was a culmination of the overall changing beliefs in the 16th and 17th centuries when it came to the devil, the witch, and God himself. Join her on April 12, 2025 at the Witch House from 6-7:30 to learn more.
Tickets are free but space is limited, click here to make a reservation.
Krystina Yeager (she/her) is a historian with an MA in history, specializing in the early modern witch trials of England and New England, with a particular focus on the role of the witch’s familiar. She has presented her research at conferences across the country and internationally, shedding light on the intersections of folklore, law, and religious transformation in witchcraft accusations. Krystina likes to say she is mostly interested in the history that people don't like to talk about and how highlighting these stories upend the established historical narrative over time.
Daisies & Daffodils: Spring Flowers Medicine
We see flowers like daisies and daffodils as signs of Spring, while in Massachusetts Bay colony they meant fresh ingredients to craft cures. Both these plants were known to the early settlers. Daisy seeds were brought to Massachusetts in 1631. Daffodils, or narcissus, where a mainstay in English gardens for centuries and the ancient Greeks wrote of their healing properties.
Join Dan Marshall as he demonstrates the tools and techniques of turning flowers into medicine in the 17th & 18th centuries. Dan will explore both European and American colonial sources that shed light on how this knowledge crossed the Atlantic and how it was put into practice here.
Dan Marshall has shared his love of history with the public for 25 years. He is currently a Salem Historical Society Board Member and the Director of Education & Interpretation with the Lexington Historical Society
Merry Medicine: Colonial Cures from Holiday Greenery
Merry Medicine: Colonial Cures from Holiday Greenery
Dec 22, 2024 12:00-4:00
Charter Street Cemetery Welcome Center
The early English in Massachusetts Bay frowned upon the celebration of Christmas. However, some of the traditional plants used in England for decorations were being made into medicines. Join Dan Marshall as he discusses how mistletoe, holly, and pine were being used to treat a variety of ailments in the 17th & 18th centuries. Dan will explore both European and American colonial sources that shed light on how this knowledge crossed the Atlantic and how it was put into practice here.
Dan Marshall has shared his love of history with the public for 25 years. He is currently a Salem Historical Society Board Member and the Director of Education & Interpretation with the Lexington Historical Society
Community Beading Program (Canceled)
Let's Create Together!
Join Indigenous Artist And Massachusett Tribe Historian/Educator Thomas Green For an Interactive Bead Looming Program.
Saturday Dec 14, 1:00 to 4:30
*Free Event * Supplies Provided*
This is one session in a series to be completed by December 2024. It is hoped, but not required, that participants will attend multiple sessions. At the end of the program Thomas Green will use a sample of each individual attendees completed works to create a shared piece that will be on public display.
For more information email epeterson@salem.com
Hosted by the City of Salem Pioneer Village
Ghost Stories in the Witch House
Historian and storyteller Rory O'Brien reads a a selection of classic ghost stories as the sun sets in the historic Witch House. The event is free, but space is limited, so advance reservations will be required to attend.
Reservations are available here.
Death Cafe at Charter Street Cemetery Welcome Center
Join Meg Nichols and Joey Phoenix for a Death Cafe at Charter Street Cemetery Welcome Center.
45 Charter Street Salem, Mass.
(Sold Out) Where Have the Salem Witchcraft Documents Been Since 1692? An evening with Salem Witch Trials Scholar, Margo Burns
A Story of Fascination and Preservation.
In April 1952, playwright Arthur Miller came to Salem to do research for his play “The Crucible,” set during the witchcraft trials of 1692. He described the experience of seeing the original manuscripts at the Essex County Courthouse this way: “I wanted to study the actual words of the interrogations… often spelled phonetically in the improvised shorthand of the court clerks or the ministers who kept the record as the trials proceeded… Reading the testimony here beside the bay was an experience different from reading about the trials in New York. Here, it could have happened.” He is not alone: many people over the centuries have felt that same intensity about seeing the originals. In the early 1980s, that Court transferred the manuscripts of the Court of Oyer & Terminer into the care of the Phillips Library of the Essex Institute, the predecessor of the Peabody Essex Museum. In 2018, the Museum announced that it was moving them to its new state-of-the-art Collection Center in Rowley, despite public uproar that they were being moved out of Salem, where many people felt strongly that they belonged. Last year, the manuscripts were moved again, this time to where they actually do belong: the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives at Columbia Point in Boston, joining another cache of original records of the episode. This is the story of where they have all been over the years, why some have been moved, and what the story is of the fascination with and preservation of the original manuscripts of this unique event in Massachusetts history.
This event is free but due to limited seating, registration is required through Eventbrite. The registration link is here:
Sold Out! Community Beading Program
Let's Create Together!
Join Indigenous Artist And Massachusett Tribe Historian/Educator Thomas Green For an Interactive Bead Looming Program.
Saturday Nov 16, 10:00 to 1:00
*Free Event * Supplies Provided*
This is one session in a series to be completed by December 2024. It is hoped, but not required, that participants will attend multiple sessions. At the end of the program Thomas Green will use a sample of each individual attendees completed works to create a shared piece that will be on public display.
Additional Sessions will be held:
December 14, 1-4:30
For more information email epeterson@salem.com
Hosted by the City of Salem Pioneer Village
Flag Raising
Massachusett Tribe Flag Raising and Presentations for Indigenous People's Day
'Native Spaces' Launch Event
The Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag, in partnership with the City of Salem, is proud to announce the launch of "Native Spaces," a groundbreaking audio-based, digital public art project. Initiated by Boston-based artist Sarah Kanouse and Massachusett elder Elizabeth Solomon, this collaborative effort will be officially unveiled on October 11, 2024, at 10 AM in the Salem City Council Chambers.
"Native Spaces" invites the public to experience the rich tapestry of Indigenous history and presence in Salem through an innovative, location-aware digital platform. In particular, the project showcases varied perspectives on land, property, and the historic 1686"deed" that, in the view of the colonial government, transferred the Massachusett village of Naumkeag to English colonists. Colorful, sun-like medallions placed throughout Salem's public spaces serve as gateways to this immersive audio experience.
The launch event on October 11 will feature:
A panel discussion with project creators
Distribution of project flyers with a map
A group listening session for audio virtually located near City Hall
As a born-digital project, "Native Spaces" will continue to evolve. Additional programming planned for winter 2024-2025 will offer audience members the opportunity to record their own audio reflections about Native Spaces in Salem which may be incorporated into the project's evolving sonic tapestry.
Lanterns In The Village
Ghost stories read aloud amidst glowing jack-o-lanterns and candlelit cottages.
Lanterns In The Village
Ghost stories read aloud amidst glowing jack-o-lanterns and candlelit cottages.
Proceeds for tonight benefit Collins Middle School
Useful Plants of Pioneer Village—Food, Medicine, and More
Useful Plants of Pioneer Village—Food, Medicine, and More
An amazing number of the plants at Pioneer Village are nutritious food, or good medicine, and/or useful in other ways. Some are native and were already here when the settlers came, others were introduced. In this fun and informative walk you will learn about these wonderful plants and some of their uses, whether they are wild and weedy or cultivated and tame. Appreciating the useful plants around us helps us to treat plants and the environment with care and respect, so they are here for future generations. You will leave with new-found awe for our plant neighbors and the many gifts they offer us!
Meet at the wooden footbridge to Pioneer Village.
Bio:
Iris Weaver is a Bioregional Herbalist and Foraging Instructor. She leads plant walks locally and teaches classes and workshops on herbalism, herbal body care, and herbal crafts. Her emphasis is on sustainable uses of local plants.
Earlier Event: September 14
Later Event: November 16
Community Beading Program
Let's Create Together!
Join Indigenous Artist And Massachusett Tribe Historian/Educator Thomas Green For an Interactive Bead Looming Program.
Saturday Sept 14, 1:00 to 4:30
*Free Event * Supplies Provided*
This is one session in a series to be completed by December 2024. It is hoped, but not required, that participants will attend multiple sessions. At the end of the program Thomas Green will use a sample of each individual attendees completed works to create a shared piece that will be on public display.
Additional Sessions will be held:
November 16, 1-4:30
December 14, 1-4:30
For more information email epeterson@salem.com
Hosted by the City of Salem Pioneer Village
Sold Out! Community Beading Program
Sold Out! Community Beading Program
Saturday, August 10, 2024
1:00 PM 4:30 PM
Let's Create Together!
Join Indigenous Artist And Massachusett Tribe Historian/Educator Thomas Green For An Interactive Bead Looming Program.
Saturday August 10th, 1:00 to 4:30
at the Community Life Center 401 Bridge Street
*Free Event * Supplies Provided*
This will be the first session in a series of five to be completed by December 2024. It is hoped, but not required that participants will attend all five of the sessions. At the end of the program Thomas Green will use a sample of each individual attendees completed works to create a shared piece that will be on public display.
Additional Sessions will be held:
September 14, 1-4:30
November 16, 1-4:30
December 14, 1-4:30
MASSACHUSETT TRIBE LAND BLESSING
MASSACHUSETT TRIBE LAND BLESSING
Friday, August 9, 2024
10:00 AM 11:00 AM
Thomas (Spirit Tree) Green, enrolled member of the Massachusett Tribe at Ponkapoag will perform a spiritual cleansing and cultural blessing to honor the Pawtucket Bloodline Sachemship of Nanepashemet at the seat of his son, Wenepoiken, on August 9, 2024 at 10:00 a.m.o’clock. Attendees are asked to remain respectfully silent during this solemn act of remembrance. Thomas will be available afterwards for informal conversation.
We will gather at Furlong Park Franklin Street in Salem.
Tansy Treatments- Medicine in Early Massachusetts
Tansy has been used for thousands of years to make medicine, repel insects, flavor food, and preserve the dead. First brought to New England by English settlers in the 1630s, it became a common sight at funerals, sometimes stuffed into coffins before burial.
Join historian Dan Marshall as he explores the wide variety of medicinal, insecticide, and culinary uses of tansy recorded in seventeenth-century American and European sources. Lend a hand as Dan makes some tinctures, oils, and teas using this versatile weed.
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Dan Marshall has shared his love of history with the public for 25 years. He is currently a Salem Historical Society Board Member and the Director of Education & Interpretation with the Lexington Historical Society.
Loss, Healing and the Legacy of the Salem Witch Trials
While the Salem witch trials ended in May 1693, it took the community generations to recover from the trauma and loss. Some residents moved away while others changed the spelling of their family name. Many participated in legislative efforts to restore innocency to the victims, and others sought to knit the community back together through healing marriages between families of accusers and their victims. The collective pain and shame of the trials meant that Salem would not build a memorial to the victims until their 300th anniversary in 1992. It would take 25 more years before the city would memorialize the execution site at Proctor’s Ledge on Gallows Hill.
This event is free, but space is limited. Tickets may be reserved here.
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Emerson "Tad" Baker is a professor of History at Salem State University and has previously served as vice provost and dean of the graduate school. He is the award-winning author or co-author of six books on the history and archaeology of early New England, including A Storm of Witchcraft: The Salem Trials and the American Experience, and The Devil of Great Island: Witchcraft and Conflict in Early New England. Baker has served as consultant and on-camera expert for historical documentaries and TV shows for networks ranging from PBS and TLC to Smithsonian and the History Channel. He is currently working on a book on the aftermath of the Salem witch trials.
Salem Death Cafe
Please join Meg Nichols (she/her) and Joey Phoenix (they/them) of the Mycelium Network for a Death Cafe on Thursday May 2nd from 6-8pm at the Charter Street Cemetery Welcome Center. Light refreshments will be provided.
Death Cafe is an opportunity for people to gather, drink tea, and talk about their experiences with death and grief. It is a group directed discussion of death with no agenda, objectives or themes. Please note that it is a discussion group rather than a grief support or counseling session.
Please note that RSVP's are required to attend as we have limited capacity. Click here to RSVP.
If you have any questions, please reach out to us at mycel.network@gmail.com
About Meg Nichols
Meg Nichols (she/her) is a Salem-based artist, owner of Painted Lady Sign Co. and Mortuary Science student at North Shore Community College. She is also a funeral director / embalmer apprentice, and trained death doula. She is passionate about death care education, advocacy and removing the stigma around addressing this inevitable part of life.
About Joey Phoenix
Joey Phoenix (they/them) is a transfae artist, performer, and intuitive energy worker. Grief work is at the center of both their creative and magical practice. They are also the lead organizer of the Camberville based mutual aid network the Mycelium Network.
Memento Mori: The Puritan Funeral in New England
The Puritans of New England were a people very well acquainted with death and their idiosyncratic relationship with it led to a rich funeral culture that persisted for years after the collapse of the Puritan movement. A ritual that involved copious alcohol, but no sermons, the 17th Century funeral is at once very similar and completely different from the funerals of today. Join Carl Schultz as he walks through the history of the colonial funeral, burials, and why someone might need a “double-coffin”.
This event is free, but space is limited. Reservations may be made here
Rose Remedies: Medicine in Early Massachusetts
Rose Remedies: Medicine in Early Massachusetts
Charter Street Cemetery Welcome Center 45 Charter Street
Known for centuries as a symbol of love, roses have become permanently entwined with Valentine's Day. However, in Colonial America this flower could just as well have been given to cure disease as to convey affection.
Join historian Dan Marshall as he explores the wide variety of medicinal uses of roses recorded in seventeenth-century American and European sources. Lend a hand as Dan makes some of the medicinal vinegars, oils, teas, waters, and conserves used in the past. They say love conquers all, but did rose cure all?
Dan Marshall has shared his love of history with the public for over 20 years. He is currently a Salem Historical Society Board Member and the Director of Education & Interpretation with the Lexington Historical Society.
Painting Demo at the Witch House
Visit the Witch House to see local artist Nick Demakes create an original painting as part of the Salem So Sweet festival. Free and open to the public, no reservations required!
Gentlemen Bat artist Nick Demakes is a graduate of Monserrat College of Art, with a BFA in illustration, and paints his animal portraits with coffee and acrylic paint. Nick is featured in the Peabody Essex Museum’s Bat exhibit and has prints available locally in Salem as well as New Orleans, Buffalo, New York, and Oregon.
Ghost Stories in the Witch House (Sold Out)
Historian and storyteller Rory O'Brien reads a a selection of classic ghost stories as the sun sets in the historic Witch House. The event is free, but space is limited, so advance reservations will be required to attend.
Reservations are available here
Merry Medicine: Colonial Cures from Holiday Greenery
The early English in Massachusetts Bay frowned upon the celebration of Christmas. However, some of the traditional plants used in England for decorations were being made into medicines. Come join Dan Marshall as he discusses how mistletoe, holly and pine were being used to treat a variety of ailments in the 17th & 18th centuries. Dan will explore both European and American colonial sources that shed light on how this knowledge crossed the Atlantic and how it was put into practice here.
Space is limited. Reservations are required. Reservations may be made here.
Dan Marshall has shared his love of history with the public for over 20 years. He is currently a Salem Historical Society Board Member and the Director of Education & Interpretation with the Lexington Historical Society.
Cancelled-Midsummer Solstice
Come to the Village and learn about Midsummer Solstice traditions. Vendors, food, demonstrations and craft activities will be featured.
Salem Ancestry Days: The Tradition of Weir-Fishing
Thomas Green, representative of the Massachusett Tribe, shares the ancient practice of weir-fishing and fish smoking.
Space is limited. To make a free reservation click here
Spring Equinox
Come to the Village and learn about Spring Equinox traditions. Craft activity and food demo will be featured. Weather and access permitting!
Merry Medicine: Colonial Cures from Holiday Greenery
A Holiday Event at Charter Street Cemetery Welcome Center
The early English in Massachusetts Bay frowned upon the celebration of Christmas. However, some of the traditional plants used in England for decorations were being made into medicines. Come join Dan Marshall as he discusses how mistletoe, holly and pine were being used to treat a variety of ailments in the 17th & 18th centuries. Dan will explore both European and American colonial sources that shed light on how this knowledge crossed the Atlantic and how it was put into practice here.
Space is limited. Reservations are required. Tickets may be purchased here.
Dan Marshall has shared his love of history with the public for over 20 years. He is currently a Salem Historical Society Board Member and the Director of Education & Interpretation with the Lexington Historical Society.
Black Veil Night Market
Black Veil Tattoo hosts their annual Night Market in the village. Artists wares, food and beer garden will be featured. Admission is $5.00 at the door.