|
|
Article: Holy wells in Britain and Ireland.
- Article from:
- Contemporary Review
- Article date:
- May 1, 2002
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 Contemporary Review Company Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
|
HOLY wells have featured for many centuries in the folk religion and social customs of Christianity in Britain and Ireland. Sometimes it has seemed difficult to separate the primordial pagan origins of holy well veneration in specific localities from the orthodox church-approved beliefs and devotional practices. Priests of the Roman Church have in past centuries found themselves, sometimes under episcopal direction, in earnest battle against perceived local superstitions and impious social customs connected with holy wells. In Ireland during the nineteenth century priests actively clamped down on the drunkenness, gambling, raucous singsonging and caterwauling offensiveness ...