CHAPTER XIV.

ANALYSIS OF THE BRITISH CULTS.

Commencing with the Teutonic centres of England, Sir Laurence Gomme shows that the middle and south-eastern counties almost fix the boundary of one form of well-worship, a form which has lost all local colour, all distinct ritual, and remains only in the dedication of the well or spring to a saint of the Christian Church, in the tradition of its name as a “holy well,” or else in the memory of some sort of reverence formerly paid to the waters, which in many cases are nameless. Proceeding from small beginnings where the survival of the ancient cult is represented by the simple idea of reverence for wells mostly dedicated to a Christian saint, he takes us through stages where a ceremonial is faintly traced in the well-dressing with garlands decked with flowers and ribbons, where shrubs and trees growing near the well are the recipients of offerings by devotees to the spirit of the well, where disease and sickness of all kinds are ministered to, where aid is sought against enemies, where the gift of rain is obtained, where the spirits appear in general forms as fairies and in specific form as animal or fish, and finally, it may be in anthropomorphic form as Christian saints, where priestesses attend the well to preside over the ceremonies. With the several variants overlapping at every stage and thus keeping the whole group of superstition and custom in touch, one section with another, he shows that there is every reason to identify this cult as the most widespread and the most lasting in connection with local natural objects. He points out, moreover, that it is in the Celtic-speaking districts where the rudest and most uncivilised ceremonial is extant, and further, that it is in the country of the Goidelic or earliest branch of the Celts, where this finds its most pronounced types.

To show how this may be translated into terms of ethnology he has given us the following table showing where the survivals of the cult are the most perfect, that is to say, less touched by the incoming civilisations which have swept over them:—

=============+========================+==============+==============+==== | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 -------------+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+----+---- England: | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Eastern and | | | | | | | | | | | | South-eastern| + | | | | | | | | + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Isle of Wight| + | | | | | + | | | + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Western | | | | | | | | | | | | (middle) | + | | | | | + | | | + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Western | | + | + | | | + | + | | + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Northern (a) | | + | + | | | + | + | | + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Do. (b) | | + | + | | | | + | + | | + | | | | | | | | | | | | | | Wales | | + | + | | + | | + | | | | + | + | | | | | | | | | | | | Cornwall | | + | + | | + | | | | | | + | + | | | | | | | | | | | | Ireland | | + | + | + | + | | | + | | | + | | | | | | | | | | | | | Scotland | | + | + | + | + | | | + | | | + | + =============+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====+====

Form of worship.

1. Simple reverence. 2. Cure of disease. 3. Wishing and divination. 4. Rain producing. 5. Sun-worship influences.

Offerings.

6. Garland-dressing. 7. Pins. 8. Rag-bushes.

Deity or spirit.

9. Saint. 10. Fairy. 11. Animal genius.

12. Human priest or priestess.

It may be gathered from this table that the acts of simple reverence, garland-dressing, and dedication to a Christian saint are to be taken as the late expressions in popular tradition of the earlier and more primitive acts and practices tabulated above. Taking the more primitive elements as the basis, the author shows that the lowest point is obtained from English ground, which only rises into the primitive stages in the northern counties where rag-bushes are found. On Welsh ground the highest point of primitive culture is the tradition of an animal guardian-spirit. On Irish ground the highest point is the identification of the well deity with the rain-god, while on Scottish ground the highest points recognisable elsewhere are accentuated in degree.

The author also shows that garland-dressing, pins and rag-bushes, the three forms in which offerings to the well-deities are made, are but variants of one primitive form—namely, the offerings of rags or parts of clothing upon bushes sacred to the well. This species of offerings, according to a summary given by General Pitt-Rivers, extends throughout Northern Africa from west to east. Mungo Park mentions it in Western Africa; Sir Samuel Baker speaks of it on the confines of Abyssinia, and says that the people who practised it were unable to assign a reason for doing so; Burton also found the same custom in Arabia during his pilgrimage to Mecca; in Persia Sir William Ouseley saw a tree close to a large monolith covered with these rags, and he describes it as a practice appertaining to a religion long since proscribed in that country; Colonel Leslie says that in the Dekkan and Ceylon the trees in the neighbourhood of wells may be seen covered with similar scraps of cotton; Dr. A. Campbell speaks of it as being practised by the Limboos near Darjeeling in the Himalayas, where it is associated, as in Ireland, with large heaps of stones; and Huc in his travels mentions it among the Tartars. We shall examine the ideas underlying the practice of rag-offering in different countries in a separate chapter. Meanwhile, the conclusion that Sir Laurence Gomme draws from this summary may be noted in his own words:—

“Here not only do we get evidence of the cult in an Aryan country like Persia being proscribed, but, as General Pitt-Rivers observes, ‘it is impossible to believe that so singular a custom as this, invariably associated with cairns, megalithic monuments, holy wells, or some such early Pagan institutions, could have arisen independently in all these countries.’ That the area over which it is found is coterminous with the area of the megalithic monuments, that these monuments take us back to pre-Aryan people and suggest the spread of this people over the area covered by their remains, are arguments in favour of a megalithic date for well-worship and rag-offerings.”

This ramble of ours through many ages and many lands in search of evidence of water-worship may now be brought to a close. Let us now witness the ceremonies connected with the digging of wells and the different customs of decorating wells and the varied offerings proffered to the nymphs and spirits residing in the waters. With the picture that will be thus presented of Indian wells decked with _jalis_ (trellis work) of flowers and illumined with _ghee_-lamps, their pavements strewn with cocoanuts, sugar and sweets and milk and _ghee_, and smeared with red lead in lieu of blood, but daubed also in some places with the blood of animal-sacrifice, it will be interesting to contrast the picture of English wells fantastically tapestried about with old rags and practically unlit and unembellished, save for a little garland-dressing here and there, and filled with pins and needles, buttons and coins.