Chapter XII
Reading edition
RIVER AND WELL WORSHIP.
Such beliefs were not peculiarly Celtic. They are found in all European folk-lore, and they are still alive among savages—the animal being itself divine or the personification of a divinity. A huge sacred eel was worshipped by the Fijians; in North America and elsewhere there were serpent guardians of the waters; and the Semites worshipped the fish of sacred wells as incarnations or symbols of a god.
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · Footnote 597: (return) Ethnol. in Folklore, 104 f.Note 2 · Footnote 598: (return) D'Arbois, PH ii. 132, 169; Dottin, 240.Note 3 · Footnote 599: (return) Justin, xxxii. 3; Strabo, iv. 1. 13.Note 4 · Footnote 600: (return) S. Gregory, In Glor. Conf. ch. 2. Perhaps the feast and offerings were intended to cause rain in time of drought. SeeNote 5 · Footnote 601: (return) Adamman, Vita Colum. ii. 10.Note 6 · Footnote 602: (return) See Holder, s.v.Note 7 · Footnote 603: (return) D'Arbois, RC x. 168, xiv. 377; CIL xii. 33; Propertius, iv. 10. 41.Note 8 · Footnote 604: (return) See p. 349, infra.Note 9 · Footnote 605: (return) Cf. Ptolemy's [Greek: Dêouana] and [Greek: Dêouna] (ii. 3. 19, 11. 29); the Scots and English Dee; the Divy in Wales;Note 10 · Footnote 606: (return) Holder, s.v.; D'Arbois, PH ii. 119, thinks Matrona is Ligurian. But it seems to have strong Celtic affinities.Note 11 · Footnote 607: (return) Rh[^y]s, HL 27-29, RC iv. 137.Note 12 · Footnote 608: (return) On the whole subject see Pictet, "Quelques noms celtiques de rivières," RC ii. 1 f. Orosius, v. 15. 6, describes the Note 13 · Footnote 609: (return) Maury, 18. By extension of this belief any divinity might appear by the haunted spring. S. Patrick and his synod of bNote 14 · Footnote 610: (return) Greg. Tours, Vita Patr. c. 6.Note 15 · Footnote 611: (return) See Reinach, Catal. Sommaire, 23, 115; Baudot, Rapport sur les fouilles faits aux sources de la Seine, ii. 120; RC iiNote 16 · Footnote 612: (return) For these tablets see Nicolson, Keltic Studies, 131 f.; Jullian, RC 1898.Note 17 · Footnote 613: (return) Sébillot, ii. 195.Note 18 · Footnote 614: (return) Prologue to Chrestien's Conte du Graal.Note 19 · Footnote 615: (return) Sébillot, ii. 202 f.Note 20 · Footnote 616: (return) Ibid. 196-197; Martin, 140-141; Dalyell, 411.Note 21 · Footnote 617: (return) Rh[^y]s, CFL i. 366; Folk-Lore, viii. 281. If the fish appeared when an invalid drank of the well, this was a good omNote 22 · Footnote 618: (return) Gomme, Ethnol. in Folklore, 92.Note 23 · Footnote 619: (return) Trip. Life, 113; Tigernach, Annals, A.D. 1061.Note 24 · Footnote 620: (return) Mackinley, 184.Note 25 · Footnote 621: (return) Burne, Shropshire Folk-Lore, 416; Campbell, WHT ii. 145.Note 26 · Footnote 622: (return) Old Stat. Account, xii. 465.Note 27 · Footnote 623: (return) S. Patrick, when he cleared Ireland of serpents, dealt in this way with the worst specimens. S. Columba quelled a monNote 28 · Footnote 624: (return) RC xii. 347.Note 29 · Footnote 625: (return) For the water-horse, see Campbell, WHT iv. 307; Macdongall, 294; Campbell, Superstitions, 203; and for the Manx GlashNote 30 · Footnote 626: (return) Reinach, CMR i. 63.Note 31 · Footnote 627: (return) Orosius, v. 15. 6.Note 32 · Footnote 628: (return) LU 2a. Of Eochaid is told a variant of the Midas story—the discovery of his horse's ears. This is also told of LabraiNote 33 · Footnote 629: (return) Ptol. ii. 2. 7.Note 34 · Footnote 630: (return) Campbell, WHT iv. 300 f.; Rh[^y]s, CFL i. 284; Waldron, Isle of Man, 147.Note 35 · Footnote 631: (return) Macdougall, 296; Campbell, Superstitions, 195. For the Uruisg as Brownie, see WHT ii. 9; Graham, Scenery of PerthshirNote 36 · Footnote 632: (return) Rh[^y]s, CFL ii. 431, 469, HL, 592; Book of Taliesin, vii. 135.Note 37 · Footnote 633: (return) Sébillot, ii. 340; LL 165; IT i. 699.Note 38 · Footnote 634: (return) Sébillot, ii. 409.Note 39 · Footnote 635: (return) See Pughe, The Physicians of Myddfai, 1861 (these were descendants of a water-fairy); Rh[^y]s, Y Cymmrodor, iv. 164; Note 40 · Footnote 636: (return) Sébillot, ii. 338, 344; Rh[^y]s, CFL i. 243; Henderson, Folk-Lore of the N. Counties, 262. Cf. the rhymes, "L'ArguenoNote 41 · Footnote 637: (return) Sébillot, ii. 339.Note 42 · Footnote 638: (return) Rendes Dindsenchas, RC xv. 315, 457. Other instances of punishment following misuse of a well are given in Sébillot, Note 43 · Footnote 639: (return) Rh[^y]s, CFL i. 392.Note 44 · Footnote 640: (return) Girald. Cambr. Itin. Hib. ii. 9; Joyce, OCR 97; Kennedy, 281; O'Grady, i. 233; Skene, ii. 59; Campbell, WHT ii. 147. Note 45 · Footnote 641: (return) Roberts, Cambrian Pop. Antiq. 246; Hunt, Popular Romances, 291; New Stat. Account, x. 313.Note 46 · Footnote 642: (return) Thorpe, Northern Myth. ii. 78.Note 47 · Footnote 643: (return) Joyce, PN ii. 84. Slán occurs in many names of wells. Well-worship is denounced in the canons of the Fourth Council oNote 48 · Footnote 644: (return) Cartailhac, L'Age de Pierre, 74; Bulliot et Thiollier, Mission de S. Martin, 60.Note 49 · Footnote 645: (return) Sébillot, ii. 284.Note 50 · Footnote 646: (return) Dalyell, 79-80; Sébillot, ii. 282, 374; see p. 266, infra.Note 51 · Footnote 647: (return) I have compiled this account of the ritual from notices of the modern usages in various works. See, e.g., Moore, FolkNote 52 · Footnote 648: (return) Brand, ii. 68; Greg. In Glor. Conf. c. 2.Note 53 · Footnote 649: (return) Sébillot, ii. 293, 296; Folk-Lore, iv. 55.Note 54 · Footnote 650: (return) Mackinley, 194; Sébillot, ii. 296.Note 55 · Footnote 651: (return) Folk-Lore, iii. 67; Athenæum, 1893, 415; Pliny, Ep. viii. 8; Strabo, iv. 287; Diod. Sic. v. 9.Note 56 · Footnote 652: (return) Walker, Proc. Soc. Ant. Scot. vol. v.; Sébillot, ii. 232. In some early Irish instances a worm swallowed with the watNote 57 · Footnote 653: (return) Sébillot, ii. 235-236.Note 58 · Footnote 654: (return) See Le Braz, i. 61; Folk-Lore, v. 214; Rh[^y]s, CFL i. 364; Dalyell, 506-507; Scott, Minstrelsy, Introd. xliii; MartiNote 59 · Footnote 655: (return) Jullian, Ep. to Maximin, 16. The practice may have been connected with that noted by Aristotle, of plunging the newlyNote 60 · Footnote 656: (return) Lefevre, Les Gaulois, 109; Michelet, Origines du droit français, 268.Note 61 · Footnote 657: (return) See examples of its use in Post, Grundriss der Ethnol. Jurisprudenz, ii. 459 f.Note 62 · Footnote 658: (return) Roberts, Cambrian Popular Antiquities, 246.Note 63 · Among the Celts the testimony of contemporary witnesses, inscriptions, votive offerings, and survivals, shows the importance of the cult of Note 64 · Treasures were flung into a sacred lake near Toulouse to cause a pestilence to cease. Caepion, who afterwards fished up this treasure, fell Note 65 · On inscriptions a river name is prefixed by some divine epithet—dea, augusta, and the worshipper records his gratitude for benefits receivedNote 66 · The name of the water-divinity was sometimes given to the place of his or her cult, or to the towns which sprang up on the banks of rivers—tNote 67 · Gods like Grannos, Borvo, and others, equated with Apollo, presided over healing springs, and they are usually associated with goddesses, asNote 68 · Sanctuaries were erected at these springs by grateful worshippers, and at some of them festivals were held, or they were the resort of pilgrNote 69 · The spirit of the waters was often embodied in an animal, usually a fish. Even now in Brittany the fairy dweller in a spring has the form ofNote 70 · Later Celtic folk-belief associated monstrous and malevolent beings with rivers and lakes. These may be the older divinities to whom a demonNote 71 · The Each Uisge, or "Water-horse," a horse with staring eyes, webbed feet, and a slimy coat, is still dreaded. He assumes different forms andNote 72 · The foaming waters may have suggested another animal personification, since the name of the Boyne in Ptolemy, [Greek: bououinda], is derivedNote 73 · The Uruisg, often confused with the brownie, haunts lonely places and waterfalls, and, according to his mood, helps or harms the wayfarer. HNote 74 · In other cases the old water beings have a more pleasing form, like the syrens and other fairy beings who haunt French rivers, or the mermaiNote 75 · Human sacrifice to water-divinities is suggested by the belief that water-monsters devour human beings, and by the tradition that a river clNote 76 · Legends telling of the danger of removing or altering a well, or of the well moving elsewhere because a woman washed her hands in it, point Note 77 · In spite of twenty centuries of Christianity and the anathemas of saints and councils, the old pagan practices at healing wells have surviveNote 78 · The rag or clothing hung on the tree seems to connect the spirit of the tree with that of the well, and tree and well are often found togethNote 79 · The offering thrown into the well—a pin, coin, etc., may also have this double aspect. The sore is often pricked or rubbed with the pin as iNote 80 · Certain waters had the power of ejecting the demon of madness. Besides drinking, the patient was thrown into the waters, the shock being intNote 81 · The waters also gave oracles, their method of flowing, the amount of water in the well, the appearance or non-appearance of bubbles at the sNote 82 · The malevolent aspect of the spirit of the well is seen in the "cursing wells" of which it was thought that when some article inscribed with