What am I studying again?

Just watched the second half of QI on BBC4 (it'll be on BBC2 next week), and one of the questions was: 'which religion causes harm by sticking pins into dolls?'. Obviously, voodoo was the booby-trap answer. I thought maybe it would be Santeria - a similar voodoo type religion which incorporates the Roman Catholic saints.

The answer was actually 'European Witchcraft'. Ah yes. Now you mention it, I have just spent over a year researching my thesis on ancient European witchcraft, of which poppets (sadly not the yummy sweets) were a part. In fact, archaeologists have found a clay doll shaped like a woman with 13 pins in it and coincidentally we also have extant a papyrus spell book which happens to contain instructions on how to make a similar doll.

However, I will have to pick Stephen Fry (ahem, or rather his researchers) up on the fact that 'European witchcraft', either Classical or Early Modern, wasn't actually a religion, so minus ten points for him.

Anyway, a round-up for November:

~ Yes, I still have RSI;
~ No, my thesis still isn't finished (shut up);
~ Yes, I'm aware I've been neglecting this blog and I do apologise;
~ No, I do not lead a fascinatingly interesting life, and the three points above pretty much sum everything up.

(and my mobile was in the washing basket).