>If the people in Derbyshire venerate the waters, not the site, then why is
>it not acceptable to 'dress' any water site? I can see it is permissible to
>prohibit buckets and such, but if place is not that important to them ,
>then
>any natural or conduited source should be acceptable.
Well thats the argument, that people are presenting. People are starting to
use anything that can contain water so that they can create a Well Dressing
that will then bring people into their community. However this is a new
interpretation of an old idea, and the traditional Well Dressing
Communities, i.e. those that have been Well Dressing for 100's of years and
that are actually centred around a Well are getting a tad annoyed as people
are starting to visit other Well Dressings, not their own. You have to
remember that many communities, Tissington in particular have families that
traditionally dress one Well a year, and that plan for months and months in
viciously guarded secrecy.
With regard to Insanity and Wells
(putting aside the madness that many vaguely directioned Well hunting trips
can induce) There are a couple of books that are worth a read. First of all
Quiller Couch 'Ancient and Holy Wells of Cornwall' who notes numerous Wells
in which forceful immersion was used to 'cure' lunacy, in Cornwall, of which
the Well of Colourian is the most interesting in my opinion. Secondly, there
are the 1920's Spa federation (not that Spa federation) books that went out
to doctors (I will go home and look out their publication info) detailing
whose waters were best for what treatments and why (see also Matlock and
it's hydrotherapy chamber of horrors) they work. These are important for
covering some spas that were descended from Wells, which were still used on
site. Also see Holywell in Wales, the society for which has records of cures
and payments going whey back in the dawn of time (even though the waters are
a little suspect today). Lastly I did some work on the Wells of the Isle of
Man, where the Wells are very interesting, offering cures for small things
like death. A curious anomaly.
Rik L.
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