Romanian witches cast dark spells on government in tax protest

The Tea Party can have their Revolutionary War garb and misspelled signs, Romanian witches really know how to strike fear into the forces of big government:  Angry witches are using cat excrement and dead dogs to cast spells on the president and government who are forcing them to pay taxes. Also in the eye of ...

By , a former associate editor at Foreign Policy.
OLIVER LANG/AFP/Getty Images)
OLIVER LANG/AFP/Getty Images)
OLIVER LANG/AFP/Getty Images)

The Tea Party can have their Revolutionary War garb and misspelled signs, Romanian witches really know how to strike fear into the forces of big government: 

The Tea Party can have their Revolutionary War garb and misspelled signs, Romanian witches really know how to strike fear into the forces of big government: 

Angry witches are using cat excrement and dead dogs to cast spells on the president and government who are forcing them to pay taxes. Also in the eye of the taxman are fortune tellers, who should have seen it coming.

And President Traian Basescu isn’t laughing it off. In a country where superstition is mainstream, the president and his aides wear purple on Thursdays, allegedly to ward off evil spirits.

Witches from Romania’s eastern and western regions will descend to the southern plains and the Danube River Thursday to threaten the government with spells and spirits. Mauve has a high vibration, it makes the wearer superior and wards off evil attacks, according to the esoteric group Violet Flame – which practices on Thursdays. 

A dozen witches will head to the Danube to put a hex on the government and hurl mandrake into the river "so evil will befall them," said a witch named Alisia. She identified herself with one name, as is customary among witches. 

The issue here is that as of last weekend, witches are now considered to be working real jobs and are expected to pay taxes on income from their witchery.

It reminds me of the old saying, never pick a fight with people who buy eye of newt by the barrel.

Note to readers: The photo above is of German witches. I couldn’t find any Romanian witch photos. 

Joshua Keating is a former associate editor at Foreign Policy. Twitter: @joshuakeating

Read More On Oman

More from Foreign Policy

Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.
Children are hooked up to IV drips on the stairs at a children's hospital in Beijing.

Chinese Hospitals Are Housing Another Deadly Outbreak

Authorities are covering up the spread of antibiotic-resistant pneumonia.

Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.
Henry Kissinger during an interview in Washington in August 1980.

Henry Kissinger, Colossus on the World Stage

The late statesman was a master of realpolitik—whom some regarded as a war criminal.

A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.
A Ukrainian soldier in helmet and fatigues holds a cell phone and looks up at the night sky as an explosion lights up the horizon behind him.

The West’s False Choice in Ukraine

The crossroads is not between war and compromise, but between victory and defeat.

Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi
Illustrated portraits of Reps. MIke Gallagher, right, and Raja Krishnamoorthi

The Masterminds

Washington wants to get tough on China, and the leaders of the House China Committee are in the driver’s seat.