Osculum infame is a

witch Witchcraft is the use of magic by a person called a witch. Traditionally, "witchcraft" means the use of magic to inflict supernatural harm or misfortune on others, and this remains the most common and widespread meaning. According to ''Enc ...

's supposed ritual greeting upon meeting with the

Devil A devil is the mythical personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conce ...

. The name means the 'shameful kiss' or 'kiss of shame', since it involved kissing the devil's

anus In mammals, invertebrates and most fish, the anus (: anuses or ani; from Latin, 'ring' or 'circle') is the external body orifice at the ''exit'' end of the digestive tract (bowel), i.e. the opposite end from the mouth. Its function is to facil ...

, his "other" mouth. According to

folklore Folklore is the body of expressive culture shared by a particular group of people, culture or subculture. This includes oral traditions such as Narrative, tales, myths, legends, proverbs, Poetry, poems, jokes, and other oral traditions. This also ...

, it was this kiss that allowed the Devil to seduce women.

Kiss of shame

During the era of

witch-hunt A witch hunt, or a witch purge, is a search for people who have been labeled witches or a search for evidence of witchcraft. Practicing evil spells or Incantation, incantations was proscribed and punishable in early human civilizations in the ...

ing, many believed that witches worshipped the Devil and paid him homage by kissing his posterior. The ''osculum infame'' is mentioned in nearly every single recorded account of a

Witches' Sabbath A Witches' Sabbath is a purported gathering of those believed to practice witchcraft and other rituals. The phrase became especially popular in the 20th century. Origin of the phrase The most infamous and influential work of witch-hunting lor ...

and in confessions – most of which were extracted under torture. Although most common in Europe, no illustrations of it exist in the publications of English persecutions, possibly as torture was not regularly employed in the questioning of those accused. It was called the ''kiss of shame'' because it was generally regarded as an act of degradation. According to the allegations, witches would give the kiss of shame at the beginning of the sabbat, after the Devil had read the names of his followers. They would approach him by crawling or walking backwards, turn, bow and kiss his posterior. It was believed that this kiss was required for a new witch to be

initiated Initiation is a rite of passage marking entrance or acceptance into a group or society. It could also be a formal admission to adulthood in a community or one of its formal components. In an extended sense, it can also signify a transformatio ...

, and the kiss was followed by feasting. Sometimes witches kissed not only the Devil's fundament, but lower-ranking

demon A demon is a malevolent supernatural entity. Historically, belief in demons, or stories about demons, occurs in folklore, mythology, religion, occultism, and literature; these beliefs are reflected in Media (communication), media including f ...

s' as well. Generally considered to be an act of homage, or respect, the

North Berwick witch trials The North Berwick witch trials were the trials in 1590 of a number of people from East Lothian, Scotland, accused of witchcraft in the St Andrew's Auld Kirk in North Berwick on Halloween night. They ran for two years, and implicated over 70 peopl ...

of Scotland in the 16th century held that the kiss was an act of penance issued from the Devil. Reported in ''

Newes from Scotland ''Newes from Scotland - declaring the damnable life and death of Dr. Fian, a notable sorcerer'' is a pamphlet printed in London in 1591, and likely written by James Carmichael, who later advised King James VI on the writing of his book '' Daem ...

, declaring the damnable Life of Doctor Fian'' (1592) by W. Wright:''...and seeing that they tarried over long, hee at their coming enjoyned them all to a pennance, which was, that they should kisse his buttockes, in sign of duety to him, which being put over the pulpit bare, every one did as he had enjoyned them.'' The pamphlet provided the first descriptions of the ''osculum infame'' to the English population. Belief held that the Devil demanded the kiss of shame in forms other than human, including rams, black cats, and toads. ''Errores Haereticorum'', a medieval tract, claims that the

Cathar Catharism ( ; from the , "the pure ones") was a Christian quasi- dualist and pseudo-Gnostic movement which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France, between the 12th and 14th centuries. Denounced as a he ...

s took their name "from the term cat, whose posterior they kiss, in whose form

Satan Satan, also known as the Devil, is a devilish entity in Abrahamic religions who seduces humans into sin (or falsehood). In Judaism, Satan is seen as an agent subservient to God, typically regarded as a metaphor for the '' yetzer hara'', or ' ...

appears to them." The role could also be reversed whereby the witch was the recipient of the kiss.

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* * {{Authority control European folklore Kissing European witchcraft Christian mythology Satan Witches' Sabbath

Kiss of shame

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