Lavender Witchcraft, Tituba & the Queering of Halloween

Details

Tune into Out-FM on Tues., October 27, 2026 from 8:00-9:00 pm ET, on​ WBAI/NY​, 99.5 FM​, or livestreaming at wbai.org/listen-live

By Wednesday evening we will post the show to stream or to download mp3 file.

 

Lavender Witchcraft, Tituba & the Queering of Halloween

An Out-FM Halloween special: Halloween is arguably the queerest of all the holidays of the year and this October, Out-FM is queering Halloween still further with a consideration of the queer roots and contemporary queering of pagan spirituality as Pauline Park talks with Sam Wise about "Lavender Witchcraft" and queer pagan practices.

 
Out-FM's Stahimili Mapp reads excerpts from "I, Tituba: Black Witch of Salem," a 1986 novel by Maryse Condé that won the French Grand Prix award for women's literature; Tituba was a woman of African descent caught up in the infamous witch trials in colonial Massachusetts in which hundreds of individuals (most women) were tried for what were probably imaginary crimes and many were tortured and executed in an episode in American history with lessons for the present day.
 
music:
 
Henry Purcell, "Destruction's Our Delight" (witches' chorus) from "Dido & Aeneas" (Monteverdi Choir & English Baroque Soloists, John Eliot Gardiner conducting): 
(0:00-2:02)
 
Giuseppe Verdi: witches' chorus from "Macbeth" (ROH Covent Garden):
 
Giuseppe Verdi, "Sul fil d'un soffio etesio" from "Falstaff" (Lisette Oropesa & the Metropolitan Opera chorus):
 
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About Out-FM

Out-FM is a weekly progressive, intersectional queer show by and for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, two-spirit, non-binary, gender non-conforming, intersex, queer, and questioning communities. Our program originates from listener-sponsored, noncommercial WBAI/Pacifica Radio in New York, 99.5 FM and wbai.org. Our programs are archived at outfm.org. You can also follow us on Facebook, X, and Instagram.

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