Ginger haired people bullied?

Castiel · 14 Apr 2012 at 13:22

It comes from a medieval belief that Red Hair was associated with witchcraft and could mean that te person was either a vampire or werewolf depending on the region.

The Malleus Maleficarum Gives certain markers and indicators on how to discern witches and demons, red hair was thought to be a sign of immorality and promiscuity....mainly due to the inherit Roman descriptions of the northern Caledonian tribes which has a high incidence of red hair, and the assumption that they were wilder and less civilised than normal men.....

Add to this Egyptian prejudice where they used to sacrifice redhaired men to their Gods in return for good harvests and the further negativity and demonisation spread by Shakespeare and by its association in Western Early medieval crusader culture with Mohammed and Judas.....

In England there was also the association during the Civil War and Cromwellian Puritan Periods with the Scots and Irish and the prejudices and demonisation therein.

All in all, Ginger hair people are pretty much ****** in Western Europe, especially in Spain and along the Mediterrean, not to mention England.

This simply didn't translate in North America, probably due to the large immigration from the Irish.

rz30 · 14 Apr 2012 at 13:42

Castiel said:
It comes from a medieval belief that Red Hair was associated with witchcraft and could mean that te person was either a vampire or werewolf depending on the region.

The Malleus Maleficarum Gives certain markers and indicators on how to discern witches and demons, red hair was thought to be a sign of immorality and promiscuity....mainly due to the inherit Roman descriptions of the northern Caledonian tribes which has a high incidence of red hair, and the assumption that they were wilder and less civilised than normal men.....

Add to this Egyptian prejudice where they used to sacrifice redhaired men to their Gods in return for good harvests and the further negativity and demonisation spread by Shakespeare and by its association in Western Early medieval crusader culture with Mohammed and Judas.....

In England there was also the association during the Civil War and Cromwellian Puritan Periods with the Scots and Irish and the prejudices and demonisation therein.

All in all, Ginger hair people are pretty much ****** in Western Europe, especially in Spain and along the Mediterrean, not to mention England.

This simply didn't translate in North America, probably due to the large immigration from the Irish.

Interesting, well written. I can also add that i think Judas had red hair, and i also seem to remember reading something about various other biblical characters(villains) having red hair, so maybe you need to go even further back back to there.

So your saying that ginger hair is not well received in Spain?

The Halk · 14 Apr 2012 at 13:42

Yeah... arabs.. famous for their ginger hair.

rz30 · 14 Apr 2012 at 13:48

The Halk said:
Yeah... arabs.. famous for their ginger hair.

Lol your right, it's various artists throughout that last century that depicted him as having red hair.

Nitefly · 14 Apr 2012 at 13:54

It is somewhat hypocritical to openly mock gingers but frown upon racial jokes etc, but most racial slurs stem from or are intrinsically related to discrimination of some sorts, historical or otherwise. Ginger folks often receive a devil's slice of banter (or shanter), but it's never really associated with anything other than the face value shanter that it is.

It always seems to be a case of 'lol ginger' rather than 'no you aren't getting a raise or promoted, you are being enshrined in slavery then being subjected to genocide due to your hair colour'.

gitbags · 14 Apr 2012 at 13:58

I heard a rumour that if you rub to gingers together you can create fire. So far the only result I had was a court order.

Cosimo · 14 Apr 2012 at 14:01

olivier renault said:
Ok, let's put this right, shall we?

[/QUOTE]

That's a ginger pixie.

edscdk · 14 Apr 2012 at 14:05

Marky said:
Not always the best answer for someone that's being bullied. I would say in most cases if a bully gets a reaction, he'll continue bullying.

Unless the reaction is a beating...

dpbadger · 14 Apr 2012 at 14:05

Enter the Ginger

Castiel · 14 Apr 2012 at 14:10

rz30 said:
Lol your right, it's various artists throughout that last century that depicted him as having red hair.

No, he is not right. Depiction's of Mohammed are forbidden in Islam anyway, but the descriptions are based on what historical and quranic traditional sources have to say.

The Halk said:
Yeah... arabs.. famous for their ginger hair.

Actually Red Hair, while not common, is seen among Arab Tribal People.....as is Blonde Hair.

Mohammed was often described (Umar for one example) as having Red Hair and as such red hair is highly valued among some Islamic Cultures....Aisha was also described as being a red-head or blonde, again becoming known as Aisha the Blonde in some Arabic Cultures.

According Sordo and various other sources Red/Blonde hair was common amongst Islamic Holy and Ruling Families.....many Arabic Tribal rulong families dye their hair and beards red for this reason.....

So while amongst the average Arab population red hair is rare, among the Arab Aristocracy it was not, neither was fair skin for that matter.

Also don't forget that Northern Middle Eastern peoples mixed with other European and Asian Peoples from very early in history, not to mention that some peoples of the Middle East are not Arabs at all.....

Disco Boy · 14 Apr 2012 at 14:12

Yeah I never really got why it's a thing, but it doesn't bother me. If someone can only think of your hair colour to pick on you for, then you must be doing something right.

kinobestew123 · 14 Apr 2012 at 14:18

So is it just coincidence that Ginger can rearrange into the forbidden N word?

And how about the fact that Orange can rearrange into 'a negro'?

dpbadger · 14 Apr 2012 at 14:24

where is tha 'a'?

edit: sorry being thick.

gitbags · 14 Apr 2012 at 14:27

dpbadger said:
where is tha 'a'?

In front of the space before the 'n'

semi-pro waster · 14 Apr 2012 at 14:29

dpbadger said:
where is tha 'a'?

In "orange"? Third letter in looks awfully like an "a" to me.

But no, the link between the word ginger or synonyms thereof and racial epithets is spurious at best.

kinobestew123 · 14 Apr 2012 at 15:15

semi-pro waster said:
In "orange"? Third letter in looks awfully like an "a" to me.

But no, the link between the word ginger or synonyms thereof and racial epithets is spurious at best.

Yeah, agreed. It is quite amusing though.

Similar to conspiracy theories really, people just hunt for these things.