ANST - History of Wishing Wells

[John Ruble]

Wolf said, in response to Alastair's question:

> > I need some documentation on period wells such as for water or
> > wishing. Does anyone know of any sources online that might be of
> > some assistance?  I have done some searching but this seems to be an
> > elusive topic at best.
> 
> "wishing wells" are simply the remanant (and changed) idea of the
> sacred springs and wells of pagan europe ... look in good sources on
> celtic culture under "well's", "springs", "water" ... roman and 
> christian sources (who often built temples and later churches and 
> cathedrals ... not to mention "bath house's" (as in Bath in England) 
> on these sacred sites) ... any good anthropology source (try Joseph 
> Campbell as a start) ... archaeology (many digs come to mine ... the 
> northen Bog's for example ... check out the back issues of Archeology 
> magazine - remmeber seeing a couple articles over last few years)
> 
This is a good start. I would add "saints" to your list.  I remember reading
about more than one saint associated with healing wells.  One in particular
was a man (the town drunk) who fell down a well and drowned.  Later, people
who drank from it had miraculous cures, so the man was canonized.  The title
of the book I cannot recall, but I think it was a translation of Gregory of
Tours works.

And don't forget Mimir's well, from who's waters Odin drank to gain wisdom.
The price? One eye...

Ulf

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