[BBC News] Fairy post box is given support

[manshimajin]

When has anyone ever taken any notice of a sign board hey!!!

Don't underestimate the power of The Fairies....

 

Of course the alternative could be for the owner of the tree to simply remove the offending items???? No, far too complex - better a car-park and tearooms.

[Hermes]

Anyone who thinks tying rags etc to trees or taking water from wells or leaving items at 'fairy places' is not an original Island tradition has obviously paid scant attention to local history and traditions! Since when did 'doing nothing' count as a tradition? Is that what people want? Perhaps these traditions are more Irish than British?

 

'Mannagh vow cliaghtey cliaghtey, nee cliaghtey coe.....'

[manshimajin]

Perhaps these traditions are more Irish than British?

 

'Mannagh vow cliaghtey cliaghtey, nee cliaghtey coe.....'

You may be right. Found this information on a site about Cornish Wells:

In Celtic tradition water was of great importance and archaeologist have found lakes and wells a great source for finds dating from the Celtic age. In the lake on the Isle of Anglesey, objects from all parts of Briton were found that dated to the period when the Romans were driving the Celts westward. These included the usual coins, pins etc as well as Slave chains and a complete chariot. Whilst in Coventina's Well at Carrawborough, Northumberland the finds included replicas of human heads, as well as over 14,000 coins, a bronze dog and horse, glass, ceramics, bells and pins.

 

Strabo cites Posidonius as mentioning a "sacred precinct and pool" in a region near Toulouse in France. Treasure taken from it and later pillaged by the Roman consul Caepio in 102BC, comprised an estimated 45,000 kilograms of gold and nearly 50,000 kilogrammes of silver.

 

Spirits have always been associated with springs and wells from the earliest times, and the Druids used sources of water as entrances to Other worlds. In ancient stories such as "Branwen Daughter of Llyr" a giant emerges from the lake with a cauldron on his back whilst a more famous tale is of the lady of the lake giving the sword Excalibur to Arthur.

 

In ancient Gaul the custodian of the healing spring was a fertility goddess, always beautiful, sometimes dangerous, and these female deities have metamorphosed over time into the faeries of popular tradition.

I also recall that in parts of the Midlands they still 'dress' wells with floral pictures to give thanks for the purity of the water.

 

There is also an Old English practice that sounds very similar to what is happening at the Fairy Bridge.

Wilweorthunga is the Old English practice of fountain or well worship. The practice continues in the present and characterized by tying cloth to trees near wells to will a vow. This belief was banned in the 16th Canon Law enacted under King Edgar of England (939-946) in the tenth century.

I still do not know how someone opening a tea-rooms and building a car-park will stop the practice of tying things to the tree - it is more likely to be encouraged as part of the 'Fairy experience' and to get people to stop in for a cuppa.