Historical method: a recorded belief or accusation is not independent proof of the supernatural event described.
High stakes in a rural economy
Crop success was central to livelihoods. A tradition that associated nighttime struggles with agricultural fortune might function as an explanation of uncertainty, a statement of communal duty, or an assertion of a beneficial identity.
Interpreting causality
The historical fact is that such a relationship was reported. It is not evidence that the alleged battle physically altered yields. That distinction lets the archive explore what the story did socially without making unsupported agricultural claims.
Modern resonance
The idea of defending a harvest offers an evocative name for contemporary agricultural risk projects. The analogy is a modern creative connection, not an assertion that early modern Benandanti practiced cyberbiosecurity or scientific crop protection.
Source and revision record
- Carlo Ginzburg, The Night Battles (updated edition, 2026)Publisher listing · Publisher bibliographic and interpretive overview; updated edition dated September 8, 2026.
- Santarelli and Weber, Benandanti, EreticopediaScholarly reference · Survey of agrarian, funerary and therapeutic strands, with discussion of scholarly disagreement.