
Three-legged
iron pots being used to cater for a
school-leavers'
party in
Botswana. Everyday cooking is done in the school kitchens.
A 'cauldron' or 'caldron' (from Latin ''
caldarium'', hot bath) is a large
metal pot (
kettle) for cooking and/or boiling over an open fire, with a large mouth and usually attached to a hanger with the shape of an arc.
Cauldrons have fallen out of use nowadays in the industrialized world as cooking vessels. They have solely become associated with
witchcraft, as a ''
cliché'' popularized by various
fictions, including the play
Macbeth: in fantastic fiction, witches often prepare their potions in a cauldron. Also, in legend, a cauldron is purported to be where
leprechauns keep their treasure.
Celtic legend tells of a cauldron that was useful to warring armies: dead warriors could be put into the cauldron and would be returned to life, save that they lacked the power of speech. (It was suspected that they lacked souls, like
golem. These warriors could go back into battle until they were killed again.
In
Wicca witchcraft a cauldron is often placed at the centre of a sacred circle and used to contain items that will be set alight during a ritual.
Comics
Cauldrons are often mentioned in the illustrated comics ''
Asterix and Obelix''; their magic potion is prepared in a cauldron in every comic of the series. Cauldrons are also mentioned the in
Archie Comics series ''
Sabrina, the Teenage Witch'', where Sabrina's aunts concoct potions in one.
See also
★
Gundestrup cauldron
★
Kama (Japanese tea ceremony)
★
Cauldron (computer game)
★
Cauldron (book) A novel centering on the story of a European financial crisis that leads to a military confrontation between the
United States and
France.
External links
★
Holy Grail
★
A cauldron in a circle