Sacred Wells and Wishing Trees

Sacred Wells and Wishing Trees

Source: http://www.carolynemerick.com/the-ar...-wishing-trees

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Trees and wells have been places of wonder, wishes, offerings, and miracles in Britain since time immemorial. In many cases we can only speculate how long folk customs have been occurring. Northern and Central Europeans did not leave written records, apart from pictograms, sparse runic inscriptions or ogham carvings. Add to that, previous generations used materials that erode or decay. The point is that just because there is no record in no way implies something did not occur. But on the same token, it cannot very well be argued that it did occur unless there is hard evidence. This is the conundrum of the historian, but also of the folklorist who studies both lore and folk practices.

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A well in Brockweir, in the Wye Valley, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, England.

In some cases we can date a folk practice to “at least as far back as” a certain date because it was mentioned in an historical document. One example of this was explored in my article for Celtic Guide’s December 2013 issue, The Hidden History of Christmas Carols. I explained that dating the origin of Christmas Carols is difficult. Many historians have claimed a 14th century origin because the oldest carols we know of date from this time. However, there are Church edicts denouncing caroling dating to the 7th century A. D. So, although we do not have any examples of carols before the 14th century, we know that they were being sung due to the fact that they were banned by the Church. But, of course, this doesn’t give us a hint as to when they actually originated.

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Ribbon tree at St. Nectan's Glen, near Tintagel, Cornwall.

The same is true with many folk customs in Europe. Sometimes an historian or folklorist may make conjectures about a custom due to its similarities to other customs with known dates. We also know that some customs held significance in the pagan era because the Church mimicked them during the conversion process. This was no coincidence, but a direct order coming straight from the top. In the late 6th century A.D. Pope Gregory I wrote a letter to Abbot Mellitus stating the following:

Tell Augustine that he should be no means destroy the temples of the gods but rather the idols within those temples. Let him, after he has purified them with holy water, place altars and relics of the saints in them. For, if those temples are well built, they should be converted from the worship of demons to the service of the true God…

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The healing well Ffynnon Sara, meaning Sara's Well, found in Denbighshire, north-east Wales.

Because we know that places in nature were used as places of worship, healing, and divination in pre-Christian Europe, and we know that the Church made a concerted effort to transition pagan holy places into Christian ones, many scholars and folklorists took it as a natural assumption that holy wells were formerly pagan sacred sites. That assumption has been countered by some, however. It has been noted that water holds significant symbolic meaning within the Christian religion independently of any pagan influence. Wells and springs were often places of baptism. And the Bible is full of references to water in both the Old and New Testiments as a symbol of purity and conduit of the Holy Spirit. Professor Ronald Hutton points out in his book Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles that the evidence for pre-Christian use of holy wells is scant. But, as we have already noted above, that does not disprove its occurrence. And, Dr. Hutton has often been criticized for being overly eager to dismiss evidence.

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The walkway to St Kenelm's Well, near Winchcombe, Gloucestershire.

The aim of this column is not to dissect history, but rather to present slices of it. So with that somewhat lengthy introduction, for this edition of The Archivist’s Corner, I’d like to present holy wells and the folk practice of hanging bits of cloth on neighboring trees. To explain this practice, I will share sections from old folklore journals around the turn of the 19th century. To illustrate, I have been given photos from friends who have visited holy wells around Britain. It is interesting to note that in some of these texts written over 100 years ago, the authors marveled that these age old practices were still occurring at the time of writing. And, as we can see by the photos taken 100 years later, they still are!

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