Aradia, or the Gospel of the Witches is an 1899 book by Charles Godfrey Leland. The book is an attempt to portray the beliefs and rituals of an underground religious witchcraft tradition in Tuscany that had survived for centuries until Leland's claimed discovery of its existence in the 1890s. Scholars have disputed the veracity of this claim. Still, the book has become one of the foundational texts of Wicca and Neo-paganism. Its fifteen chapters portray the origins, beliefs, rituals and spells of an Italian pagan witchcraft tradition. The central figure of that religion is the goddess Aradia who came to Earth to teach the practice of witchcraft to oppressed peasants in order for them to oppose their feudal oppressors and the Christian church. Leland's work remained obscure until the 1950s, when other theories about, and claims of, "pagan witchcraft" survivals began to be widely discussed. Aradia began to be examined within the wider context of such claims. Scholars are divided, with some dismissing Leland's assertion regarding the origins of the manuscript, and others arguing for its authenticity as a unique documentation of folk beliefs.

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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1513: Spanish conquistador Juan Ponce de León first sighted Florida, purportedly while searching for the Fountain of Youth in the New World. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_Florida)

1794: The United States Navy was established. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy)

1958: Nikita Khrushchev became Premier of the Soviet Union. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nikita_Khrushchev)

1964: The Good Friday Earthquake and subsequent tsunamis devastated Anchorage, Alaska. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Good_Friday_Earthquake)

1977: Two Boeing 747 airliners collided in the Tenerife disaster on Tenerife of the Canary Islands, killing 583 people and resulting in the worst aircraft accident in aviation history. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_disaster)

_____________________ Wikiquote of the day:

History is a novel written by the people. -- Alfred de Vigny (http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Alfred_de_Vigny)