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Aradia is one of the principal figures in the American folklorist Charles Godfrey Leland's 1899 work ''Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches'', which he believed to be a genuine religious text used by a group of pagan witches in Tuscany, a claim that has subsequently been disputed by other folklorists and historians.〔Hutton 1999. p. 148.〕 In Leland's ''Gospel'', Aradia is portrayed as a Messiah who was sent to Earth in order to teach the oppressed peasants how to perform witchcraft to use against the Roman Catholic Church and the upper classes. The folklorist Sabina Magliocco has theorised that prior to being used in Leland's ''Gospel'', Aradia was originally a supernatural figure in Italian folklore, who was later merged with other folkloric figures such as the ''sa Rejusta'' of Sardinia.〔Magliocco, Sabina (2009). 'Aradia in Sardinia: The Archaeology of a Folk Character' in ''Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon''. Hidden Publishing. Page 40 to 60.〕 Since the publication of Leland's ''Gospel'', Aradia has become "arguably one of the central figures of the modern pagan witchcraft revival" and as such has featured in various forms of Neopaganism, including Wicca and Stregheria, as an actual deity.〔Magliocco, Sabina (2009). 'Aradia in Sardinia: The Archaeology of a Folk Character' in ''Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon''. Hidden Publishing. Page 42.〕 Raven Grimassi, founder of the Wiccan-inspired tradition of Stregheria, claims that Aradia was a historical figure named ''Aradia di Toscano'', who led a group of "Diana-worshipping witches" in 14th-century Tuscany.〔Grimassi 1996.〕 ==Italian folklore== The Italian form of the name ''Herodias'' is ''Erodiade''. It appears that Herodias, the wife of Herod Antipas, in Christian mythology of the early medieval period, came to be seen as a spirit condemned to wander the sky forever due to her part in the death of John the Baptist, permitted only to rest in treetops between midnight and dawn. By the High Middle Ages, this figure seems to have become attached to the train of nymphs of Diana, now also seen as a host of spirits flying through the night across the Italian countryside. Other names attached to the night flight of Herodias included Minerva and Noctiluca.〔Rosemary Ellen Guiley, The Encyclopedia of Witches and Witchcraft, 1989〕 The canon ''Episcopi'' is a passage from the work ''De ecclesiasticis disciplinis'' by Regino of Prüm (written ca. 906). It became notable as a paragraph of canon law dealing with witchcraft by the 12th century. Regino reports that there were groups of women who believed that they could go on night journeys where they would fly across the sky to meet Diana and her train. The name of Herodias is not present in the text as attributed to Regino, but in the version by Burchard of Worms, written ca. 1012, the reference to Diana (''cum Diana paganorum dea'') was augmented by "or with Herodias" (''vel cum Herodiade'').〔Sabina Magliocco (2002). 'Who Was Aradia? The History and Development of a Legend' in ''The Pomegranate: The Journal of Pagan Studies'', Issue 18.〕 Magliocco (2002) suggests that the legends surrounding this figure, known as Aradia, Arada or Araja, spread throughout various areas of Italy, and she traced records that showed that two beings known as ''s'Araja dimoniu'' (Araja the demon) and ''s'Araja justa'' (Araja the just) were found in Sardinia. Magliocco believed that the latter of these two figures, ''s'Araja justa'', was the antecedent of a supernatural witch-like figure known as ''sa Rejusta'' in Sardinian folklore.〔Magliocco, Sabina (2009). 'Aradia in Sardinia: The Archaeology of a Folk Character' in ''Ten Years of Triumph of the Moon''. Hidden Publishing. Page 54-55.〕 The Romanian historian of religion Mircea Eliade also noted that Arada, along with Irodiada, was a name used for a Romanian folkloric Queen of the Fairies (''Doamna Zînelor''), whom he believed was a "metamorphosis of Diana". She was viewed as the patroness of a secretive group of dancers known as the calusari who operated up until at least the 19th century.〔Eliade, Mircea (February 1975). "Some Observations on European Witchcraft" in ''History of Religions'' Volume 14, Number 3. Page 160-161.〕 Judika Illes, in her ''Encyclopedia of Spirits'', noted: "Although venerated elsewhere in Europe, Herodias was especially beloved in Italy. She and Diana are the goddesses most frequently mentioned in witch-trial transcripts and were apparently worshipped together".〔Iles, Judika. ''Encyclopedia of Spirits: The Ultimate Guide to the Magic of Fairies, Genies, Demons, Ghosts, Gods & Goddesses'' (2009). ISBN 978-0-06-135024-5〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Aradia」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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