(crossposted)
So. There seems to be a somewhat common meme (is that the right word?) with aunts being magical. Anyone have a clue where this comes from? Am I making it up? Samantha had lots of magical aunts. The aunts in Practical Magic are there to take care of (most of) the stuff. Sabrina (some versions at least) has two magical aunts. Charmed, maybe? maybe not. Books - Wise Child & Juniper; Witch Child (haven't read it, actually); something with a kid named Mary Smith perhaps by Joan Aiken? A housemate says the Puppetmaster is another (haven't read that, either) ... etc.
Who am I missing?
A different housemate suggests that maybe the magical aunt thing started with the realm of Roman superstition. Does this sound right?
Anyone have any ideas?
So. There seems to be a somewhat common meme (is that the right word?) with aunts being magical. Anyone have a clue where this comes from? Am I making it up? Samantha had lots of magical aunts. The aunts in Practical Magic are there to take care of (most of) the stuff. Sabrina (some versions at least) has two magical aunts. Charmed, maybe? maybe not. Books - Wise Child & Juniper; Witch Child (haven't read it, actually); something with a kid named Mary Smith perhaps by Joan Aiken? A housemate says the Puppetmaster is another (haven't read that, either) ... etc.
Who am I missing?
A different housemate suggests that maybe the magical aunt thing started with the realm of Roman superstition. Does this sound right?
Anyone have any ideas?
From:
no subject
It also potentially dips into the societal superstition that magic is associated with virginity, to which aunts may have plausible deniability in a way that mothers could not. (Although grandmothers are also very commonly magical too.) So there might be echoes going back as far as the sources of worship of the virgin goddess (or the triple goddess), which could arguably be Dianic like your housemate suggests. On the other side, I'm not certain that Diana ever interacted with a niece or nephew in any of the Roman legends. I suppose you could take one step further back in history and argue that Perseus was aided in his quest by Aunt Athena and Uncle Hermes. But serious discussion of ancient literature and folklore is way outside my pay grade.