From: tmurphy@sun490.fdu.edu (Tom Murphy)
Subject: Well Dressing -- from Ancient Ways echo (PODnet)
Date: 31 Jul 93 13:00:58 GMT

These excerpts come from the Ancient Ways echo in PODnet.  For more
information on PODnet, you could e-mail either me, or Grendel. :)

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"Well Dressing"
from Julia Phillips and James O.R.C.

[ Editor's note: The first section is presumed to be posted  ]
[ by Julia Phillips, however, the headers were cut off.   -C ]

"The Pagan ceremonies practised at the holy wells were replaced in the
Christian period by devotional pilgrimages and also by the folk-custom
of well-dressing. Holy wells were visited on special days of the year,
often coinciding with the old Celtic fire festivals, and were
"dressed" with flowers. This practice was a Christianized version of
the placing of flower garlands at sacred springs to appease the water
spirits or the goddess who was worshipped there. Today well-dressing
is a sophisticated art form, involving the making of elaborate
pictures of religious subjects using thousands of flower
petals. Ancient customs of votive offerings also survived the
Christian conversion and featured in later rituals at holy wells. This
was a symbolic sacrifice when pins, coins, flowers and items of
personal jewellery were thrown into the water as an offering to the
nature spirit, goddess or saint who was believed to reside
there. Sometimes the afflicted part of a sick person was wiped with a
cloth using water from the well. This rag was then hung on a tree near
the well, and it was believed that as it rotted away so the patient
would recover." (Michael Howard: "Earth Mysteries" - Hale, 1990)

"In July one of the old customs which combines a religious work with a
kind of flower show is the art of Well Dressing. At different times of
year, all over the country, both traditionally and in revival, the
village well, or source of water, is dressed. Usually this dressing
takes the form of making pictures which illustrate Biblical scenes on
beds of damp clay, with flowers, petals, leaves, mosses and coloured
plant materials. These mosaic pictures are fitted into a frame around
the stone facade of the well house or spout. Sometimes these events
record a local blessing when, for example, the well did not dry up
during a severe drought, or when a new spring was found at a time of
need. Some such wells are dedicated to Christian saints, often female,
who took over from the older, Pagan spirits who guarded the waters, or
the sacred women, noted in the Arthurian legends, who were keepers of
fountains, often associated with healing. It was the rape and
desecration of these holy ladies which partly led to the barrenness of
the Wasteland, and the Quest for the Holy Grail which would free and
cleanse the waters.

Throughout many counties, from Gloucestershire to Yorkshire and from
Cornwall to Derbyshire, where there are situated very famous wells,
there are well-dressing ceremonies at the end of July. In Buxton, at
St Anne's Well, a spring previously dedicated to the pagan Goddess,
Arnemetia, ceremonies have taken place since Roman times. Pins were
offered at Bradwell, before Easter, to ensure a good supply of water
throughout the year, and this well is dressed in early August."
(Marian Green: "A Calendar of Festivals" - Element, 1991)

[ following section by James O.R.C. ]

The Customs of Well Dressing.

The sacred day of the Well (all Wells) falls on August 1st or 12th
(old Lammas), and we also find Wells being dressed on the other
festival dates of May 1st (or 12th), February 1st, Novemder 1st and
June 24th.  As records of Well dressing are through the activities of
the Church and the celebrations of Saint's day's, you will find one
being dressed somewhere on any given Saints day.  Decorations are
created out of natural objects, lots of leaf and flower, and of old
were simple garlands, not todays fancy arrangements.  Some Wells have
been dressed since the early 14th century (Derbyshire).  Bob Pegg in
his book `Rites and Riots' suggests that they were initiated by an
Italian Priest on Ascension day.  The worship of water springing from
the Earth, often with healing power (derived fron the substrata that
it passes through.  Many Wells have high content of metals and
sulphur) was associated with the powers of healing attributed either
to the Christ or Virgin.  Whereas the pagan view is tied up with the
`waters of the great mother' and Her `life fluid'.

For further info on Sacred Water and Wells, I recommend a text by J &
C Bord `Sacred Waters'.

james

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