A coven is a gathering of witches and sorcerers for the practice of magical arts. As such, it usually takes place at night in remote places and has the presence of the devil, represented in the figure of a goat. The word, as such, comes from the Basque akelarre, which means ‘meadow of the goat’.
Originally, covens were clandestine celebrations, based on pagan rites that were prohibited by the religious authorities of the time. Its prohibition, in this sense, is traced even to the period of the Roman Empire.
It is said that the covens were satanic rituals, in which offerings were given to the devil, there were banquets of human flesh, consumption of hallucinogenic substances and orgiastic practices. The coven, as such, ended the dawn.
Historically, the period between the end of the Middle Ages and the eighteenth century is recognized as the period of greatest boom of covens. This follows from the amount of accusations that were raised during that period against people who were claimed to have participated in these heretical practices.
Currently, however, as coven is considered any meeting or ritual that groups a group of witches and sorcerers.
On the other hand, according to Wicca’s point of view , covens are simply a meeting or meeting of sorcerers and witches, gathered to worship the mother goddess and the horned god. During these meetings, they read the tarot cards, pray and celebrate the sacred land. They do not believe, on the other hand, in the existence of the devil, so they affirm that the horned god is basically the representation of the masculine, the sun and a deer.
The coven is also called by the Hebrew term sabbat. The Sabbath, as such, was the mandatory rest day in the Jewish religion. Due to the anti-Jewish prejudice that arose in the Middle Ages after the expulsion of the Jews by the Christian rulers, the term sabbat was associated with the practice of witchcraft.
