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Gardner Village WitchesBrandie PaterakisSociology 101010 November 2014Imagination PaperThe event hall was packed, the crowd was cheering and the stage was lined with fifteen contestants. I was decked out with an amazing witches costume, that I had worked on for months. It was all down to this moment when they would crown the “So you think you’re a witch” royalty. Casey from channel two took the stage. An envelope with the winners was in his hand, this was the moment. Feelings of embarrassment, excitement and relief were encompassing my body. Casey opened his envelope and read off the 3rd, and 2nd runner up. That’s when I heard my name. “Our first runner up”, BRAZZILLA double ZZ double LL. I cackled as loudly as I could muster, collected my crown, and stood back as the Queen was called onto her throne. A series of cheers, pictures, and witchy training started as I became a part of the first witch royalty of Gardner Village. HistoryThe witchy history of this group of witches started ten years ago. Gardner Village needed something new and different to bring more sales and attention to their individually owned shops. An idea struck the owner to incorporate a novelty of celebrity witches that people would travel to come see. The vision was much like the princesses at Disney Land. They started “Witches Night Out” to bring ladies out shopping while their husbands were out hunting. This is a large event in which women would come shopping dressed as witches. There is face painting, dining, palm reading, cackling contests, prizes and lots of loud music. The witch idea was a hit. They needed a head witch to run the show, so they came up with Lucinda. Lucinda emceed Witches Night Out, and even started “Ride with a Witch”. This was where people would pay to step on a hay wagon and take rides around Gardner Village, while Lucinda would read stories and tease passengers. This ride became so large that they needed to bring more witches on board to help with the demand. That is why they started the competition, “So You Think you’re a Witch”. This is a witchy style beauty pageant that was considered an elimination process to hire witches to work as a witch at Gardner Village. The publicity was huge; we were all over news stations, news papers, billboards, and radio stations. No one had ever heard of a witch beauty pageant before and they were curious to the results of where it would go from here. Gardner Village started “Breakfast to A Witch” where children come and are entertained by 4 witches while they eat breakfast. We sign autographs and have an interactive audience participation performance that sales out every year. They also put together an adult dinner theater called, “Witch-A-Poluza”. Instead of “Ride with a Witch”, they put together a train car with a yard of withy stuff and called it “Ride to a Witch”. This ride was where they would take a ride on a hay wagon to our witch our (train car) and yard. We would tell them spells and stories of what we did in our house and yard. We would teach them how to disco dance like a witch and burry a cockroach in our witch cemetery. Each year it got larger and the lines were so long we had to convert the “Ride to a Witch” to “Witches Playground” where we had all sort of things for families to come play on and do. Each year our witch competition beauty pageant got bigger, until we had to resort to witch auditions.My Own ExperienceWinning this pageant and becoming a part of this group of witches at Gardner Village has made me who I am today. It has taught me to be confident; there is no possible way to be a good witch without confidence. You have to dress silly, wear wild make up and talk in a foreign accent. This personality change has come home with me during the rest of the year as a normal person. We have been on TV, newscasts and even a part of a video that has been broadcast all through the nation. We are bold, confident, and funny. We are famous at Gardner Village, and cannot walk down the street without people rushing us for our autographs or to take pictures with their children. Items of clothing and jewelry are given to us to wear and show people as advertisement. Shop owners love it when we come into their stores, and beg us to stay. YET, after October they do not openly offer discounts, do not even recognize us and give us no attention at all. The rest of the year we are normal people that hold a normal life.Social Context/NormsOur witch group at Gardner Village is very fun and crazy. The norms of our group are to be silly, wild, very loud, quick witted and good at bantering with the other witches in ear shot. The witches wear wild witchy clothing, including a witch hat. We are instructed to wear lots of makeup and come up with our own witchy identity. We are openly disgusting and will say anything gross to get a reaction out of the people watching. We teach groups of children and adults to roll their boogers, throw up (not for real), eat bugs out of their friend’s hair and tell silly stories about our witchy lives. We make silly faces and entertain continuously. As witches we only contact each other during October and revert back to being the best of friends during the October holiday. The witches live all over the state of Utah, some even travel hours just to work a couple hours. Most of the witches have theater backgrounds and the rest are just wild and crazy. We have witches training at the first of the year and a party to celebrate at the end. Symbolic InteractionismAs witches at Gardner Village we have many symbols, and meanings that classify us as a group. We have witches hats that make us look like witches, we have a witch’s home in a train car, we have potion bottles that contain remedies, and products to cast our spells in our caldron with. We have symbolic black cats as pets that give us luck and a friend to live out our lives with. We have big costumes that make us better than the everyday dress up witches that shop. We have official name tags that prove that we are Gardner Village witches. This helps us interact with people and make us not so crazy to people enjoying the village for the first time.Sociological ConceptOur social groups are very diverse as witches. We have grandmas, moms, single ladies and a breast cancer survivor. We have two sets of mother and daughter witches, a set of best friends and three witches with children that go to the same school. The social dynamics of children, men and elderly respond to each of us witches differently. Lucinda can get away with flirting with the men, even with their wives hooked to their arms. When other witches do this the wives get protective and angry. Some witches are too scary for little kids, and take a lot longer to warm up too, while others are immediately loved and sought after. Our subculture is very pronounced. We are not the same as those that come visit us. We are very strange and different. In fact we directly try to make our values; norms and culture different from those that come see us. We even go as far to make fun of their personal norms, such as, bathing every day, eating chicken for dinner and saying thank you instead of burping their gratitude. Witches from Gardner Village are some of the nicest women I have met. They are fun exciting and would do anything for anyone. They love to entertain and have a lot of fun doing it. They have brought a fun element to the village, one that many people come year after year to enjoy and witness. Being a part of this group has given me self confidence, excitement in October, and friendships that will be forever. This is not the end to this scary tale. BRAZZILLA double ZZ double LL, will be a part of the Witches at Gardner Village for years to come. 1094740424815When the moon is full and bright, these words will enchant your flight.316761279430Who is this witch that fly’s through the night,She works at the village her schedule is tight.Starving she goes to meet her witchy friends,At the cottage retreat she will make amends.Getting her facial she just couldn’t wait,She ate her hairy mole and chomped it like steak.Now don’t worry this was not the end of her tale,You will see more of this witch named Brazzilla double ZZ double LL.-BRAZZILLA ................
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