Witch's Casket

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Witch's Casket was an informal children’s game of the Georgian era. It was played with catgut, often from a discarded harp or violin string, and a wooden dowel or stick, known as "the casket." A child held the catgut string with both hands, forming an elongated loop, and placed the dowel between the two lengths of string in the center of the loop. The dowel would then be twisted to its tension point and released, which would cause the dowel to spin as the string unwound. This was called "spinning the casket." The object of the game was to keep the dowel spinning indefinitely by allowing it to twist and then unwind, and exerting force on the dowel as it was unwinding by pulling on the two ends of the string. If the dowel was displaced and struck another child, it was their turn to spin the casket, and the catgut string and dowel were handed off. Children would gather around the spinner and sing a song:

Witch’s casket, witch’s casket,
Close your eyes when you unmask it.
Witch’s casket, witch’s casket,
She’s buried alive in a clover basket.

There were many alternative verses:

Witch’s casket, witch’s casket,
When you stand by the grave, what do you ask it?
Witch’s casket, witch’s casket,
Our home has grown cold, why do you tax it?

[edit] Historical Context

It is believed that this game expresses fear over the growing numbers of witch-hunts and witchcraft trials brought before the church and secular courts, as well as the hysteria of the Seven Years' War and growing numbers of working class poor.

[edit] See also

Children's games
Children's street culture
Rhymes
Songs
Taboos