Osculum infame is the name of a

witch Witchcraft traditionally means the use of magic or supernatural powers to harm others. A practitioner is a witch. In medieval and early modern Europe, where the term originated, accused witches were usually women who were believed to have us ...

's supposed ritual greeting upon meeting with the

Devil A devil is the 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 conceptions of ...

. The name means the 'shameful kiss' or 'kiss of shame', since it involved kissing the devil's anus, his "other" mouth. According to

folklore Folklore is shared by a particular group of people; it encompasses the traditions common to that culture, subculture or group. This includes oral traditions such as tales, legends, proverbs and jokes. They include material culture, ranging ...

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

Kiss of shame

During the years of the witch hunts, 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 popular in the 20th century. Origins In 1668, Johannes Praetorius published his literary work "Blockes-Berges Verrichtu ...

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 transformation ...

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

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 '' Daemon ...

, 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 grc, καθαροί, katharoi, "the pure ones") was a Christian dualist or Gnostic movement between the 12th and 14th centuries which thrived in Southern Europe, particularly in northern Italy and southern France. Follo ...

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

Kiss of shame

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