At 18:45 03/03/00 +0100, you wrote:
>> Could it be this is just a local folk tale or does anyone know of other
significant details out there?
>
>Sounds very local to me - haven't heard of anything like it in the Nordic
countries.
>
>> Also is there any significance in the re-dedication of wells in the name
of the Virgin or Saint Mary?
>
>Re-dedication in this way was very common here in Sweden during the
catholic era (until circa 1540), when the church understood the value of
turning many popular prechristian wells christian!
I would be very interested to know details of these wells before the
catholic era - what evidence is there for them being 'holy'??? As this list
is probably already aware, there is real debate about whether any British
wells ever were 'holy' in prechristian times (although quite possibly
venerated, as with the ones that are annually 'dressed' in Derbyshire)
rather than made holy as part of the whole pacake of the 'cult of saints'
that was imported wholesale from Mediterranean christianity in the 8th/9th
century [Tristan Hulse has done much work on this although little has been
published!] and then further developed up to the Reformation in England (and
until the present day in Ireland).
Bob
Bob Trubshaw [log in to unmask]
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<www.indigogroup.co.uk> Opens Doors to the Unexpected
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