Besom

The broom of twigs that sweeps a space clean. The flying broom belongs to folklore.

A besom is the old kind of broom: a bundle of twigs, often birch, tied round a wooden handle. Witches use it to sweep a space clean before a ritual. The bristles usually stay a hand's width above the floor, because what is swept out is the mood of the room; the dust is dealt with beforehand. Any ordinary broom does the same work.

Brooms stood by every hearth, and folk customs gave them meaning: a broom laid across the threshold or hung by the door was said to guard the house, and couples in parts of Britain "jumped the broom" to mark their marriage.

The witch who rides a broom through the night comes from the fantasies of the witch hunts. The earliest known picture of it is a drawing in the margin of a French manuscript from about 1451. Nobody ever flew, and the accused confessed to it under torture.

Related: cleansing, tools of the craft.