medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
My impression - it is I'm afraid no more than a semi-educated guess, but
folklorists must have done 'proper' work on this - is that the word
'clootie' for wells-surrounded-by-trees-hung-with-cloths is alive and in
common use in Ireland and/or Scotland, and has recently been imported to
England. But that nevertheless it is at root an English word, literally
'clothy' (implying, if I'm right, that the term post-dates the
widespread use of English in those places).
The practice itself has been around for quite some time, tho whether
that means 'last century' 'early modern', or 'medieval' (or even
earlier??), I have no idea. I have always imagined that the elaborate
'well dressings' carried out in the English Peak District had grown out
of this more 'primitive' practice, which might thus predate them.
On firmer ground, it is astonishingly widespread as a human/cultural
activity. I have seen (and photographed) what we would call 'clootie
wells' in both Central Asia and the Far East, from southern China to
Siberia.
Pretty is certainly the wrong word for it, but such wells are very
atmospheric. As a way of giving a place a sense of significance, the
simple act of adding rags to surrounding growth does a very powerful
job. I have visited groves of trees in Tibet wrapped up with prayer
flags, and found them just as effective a 'religious enclosure' as a
church, and with better views and fresh air to boot... all this, to me,
makes it a compelling practice.
Jon Cannon
-----Original Message-----
From: medieval-religion - Scholarly discussions of medieval religious
culture [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Susan
Hoyle
Sent: 10 February 2006 09:33
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: [M-R] Clootie
medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
culture
Not just Saxon, perhaps. We get clooties left at the Holy Wells here
in
west Cornwall, scraps of usually cloth, but also tinsel and plastic
ribbon, tied
to twigs and branches of overhanging trees. Rarely the effect is
pretty,
mainly it's messy; neither is the point, I dare say. My understanding
is that
they are meant as gifts of value, but I suspect that nowadays the
meaning is
lost and people just do what they 'always' did. I further suspect that
the
practice, locally at least, is actually of recent origin.
Susan
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