CHAPTER VII. WORSHIP OF FOUNTAINS, LAKES, AND RIVERS. Fountains, Lakes, and Rivers worshipped by Eastern Nations as well as by the Celts-Fountains dedicated to the Sun-Worship of Fountains not yet extinct-Sacred Wells and Heathen Temples often contiguous— Examples of such Sites chosen for Christian Churches-Heathen Rites and Christian Ceremonies at Wells-In Persia, as in Caledonia, Trees near Springs hung with Scraps of Clothing-Joan of Arc accused of attending a Meeting of Witches at a Fountain-Belief that certain Individuals or Families have the Power of bringing Rain when required—The Water-Cross and Relic of St. Columba-Well in Strathfillan used in Cases of Insanity-Certain Lochs with Sanatory Powers-Superstitious use of Water taken from Fords where Funerals had crossed the River Avon-Worship of Trees-Trees general Objects of Worship-The Worship of the Oak in Britain-Joan of Arc and the Fairy Oak-Sacred Trees-Tree at Anuradhapoora in Ceylon-All-sufficing Tree of Buddhist Cosmogony-Groves in connection with Primitive Stone MonumentsThe Rowan-tree. IN N early ages fountains were sometimes, if not generally, dedicated to the sun; also to Apollo. Water was worshipped by the ancient Persians, and still is by the Hindus. The river Indus was a god; the Ganges remains an object of profound veneration. Besides water and the ocean personified as gods, many streams and fountains in India, and also in Ceylon, have their individual deities or genii, of various 1 Herodotus, Melpomene, clviii.-elxxxii.; Pliny, Nat. History, b. ii. c. 106 ; Quin. Curt. b. iv. c. vii. WORSHIP AT WELLS. 155 degrees of power, who receive proportionate adoration or homage. The same worship of rivers and fountains prevailed in Britain and other countries of Western Europe. 1 Besides the testimony of Gildas1 to the worship of rivers and fountains by the inhabitants of Britain, laws, civil and ecclesiastical, fulminated both in Gaul and Britain' against such practices, leave no doubt of their prevalence amongst the Celtic inhabitants of these countries. Pagan ceremonies connected with this worship exist in the present day in various parts of the United Kingdom, and in the last century were more particularly cherished in Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and Cornwall, and not less so in Brittany :3 that is to say, in all those places where a Celtic population had the most enduring and predominating influence. There are various circumstances connected with the superstitious practices retained by the Celts that may be cited in proof that their worship of fountains was connected with the worship of the sun. Beltane Day and Midsummer Eve1 were the times particularly chosen for the resort of invalids to holy wells. At these seasons mothers carrying their sick children,” and crowds of people afflicted with every kind of bodily ail ment, resorted to these fountains to drink or to bathe. Others came to fetch water for those who were unable to attend, or brought a portion of the vestment of the afflicted absentee to be dipped in the waters. Every one in their approach advanced deasil (sunwise), in which direction they went three times round before reaching the fountain; and all, before leaving, deposited an offering, however trifling, and whether or not there was any person to receive it on behalf of Christian saint or heathen deity. At St. Fillan's Well at Comrie, in Perthshire, numbers of persons in search of health, so late as 1791, came or were brought to drink of the waters and bathe in it. All these walked or were carried three times deasil (sunwise) round the well. They also threw each a white stone on an adjacent cairn, and left behind a scrap of their clothing as an offering to the genius of the place. These ceremonies were supposed not only to be effectual in restoring health, but also in curing barrenness. The principal day for these rites-viz., the 1st May, old style (Beltane Day)—and the deasil procession, show the connection of these ceremonies to be with the worship of the sun, not with St. Fillan, whose feastday is the 9th January. There are few parishes without a 1 Old Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. xi. p. 181. To give details or even lists of the wells to which pilgrimages were made on days of heathen festivals would be occupying space unnecessarily. At all these fountains the invalid used the same ceremonies, approaching them sunwise, and leaving a scrap of his clothing and an offering of metal, how 1 ever small; even a pin was a common tribute. The water of some of these wells was considered effectual in curing the diseases of cattle as well as of human beings, and in the case of cattle a portion of their harness was left as an offering to the genius of the fountain, or his successor, the Christian saint. FOUNTAINS NEAR CYCLOPEAN FANES. 157 holy well to which, in most instances, the name of a Christian saint has been attached. There is little room for doubt that these wells were Christianised when the people were converted from paganism to a spurious Christianity, and the Cyclopean fanes of the heathen became places of worship to the early Christians of Britain. 1 In another chapter it is shown that the actual sites or immediate vicinity of monolithic temples have been generally adopted as the places where Christians first assembled and Christian churches were first erected. Contiguous to these, in numberless cases, are the fountains now known by the names of early Christian saints. Unless we charge Christianity with the introduction of the heathen customs which were generally and continuously practised at holy wells, it must be admitted that they acquired their sacred character when modern superstitions were ancient religious rites. The Druids held sacred certain fountains, and if it were under their direction that the monolithic fanes were raised, may have been actuated by the same policy as the Christian teachers, who fixed their religious establishments in places previously consecrated to unseen power by an earlier people." At all events, the holy well, the heathen temple, and the 1 See chapter on the "Circular (Druids) at a well in the county of Columnar Temples." 2 The worship of fountains was condemned by the councils of Arles in 442, and of Tours in 567. 3 In Dr. Reeves' Adamnani Vita St. Columbæ, p. 119, we see how St. Columba strove against the Magi the Picts. He exorcised the heathen demon of the well, which thereafter, as a holy fountain, cured many diseases. On the little island of Gavr Innes, in Brittany, there is a well of very fine water. In this island is a large tumulus containing a chamber of Cyclopean architecture. Christian church were very often contiguous in Scotland,1 and many similar instances in other Celtic countries may be pointed out. At Lanmeur in Brittany, in the low and massive crypt of the church of Saint Melars, is a sacred fountain, to which crowds of pilgrims still resort. The practices as well as the tradition connected with this spring point to the days of paganism, when the place derived its ancient name of Kerfeunteun from the fame of its waters. A small and very ancient chapel, erected on the edge of a fountain near Baud in Brittany, is dedicated to Notre Dame de la Clarté; this, although a less objectionable style to Notre Dame, is equally derived from a heathen original as Notre-Dame-de-la-joie, Notre-Dame-de-la-Léesse, or Notre-Dame-de-la-Haine, under all which names churches are dedicated to the Virgin in Brittany. 2 3 In the most celebrated Christian place of pilgrimage in Brittany-St. Anne of Auray-the devotees, after confession, are in the practice of walking three times round the sacred well, and then returning to the church to finish their devotions. "Le culte des fontaines existait chez les Celts. Charlemagne, dans ses capitulaires, et les évêques en concile, se plaignent de la ténacité de ce culte; ils anathématisent les insensés 1 In a small island in Loch Maree, in the parish of Gairloch, in Ross-shire, is a burying-place still used, a well which for ages has been resorted to by invalids, and a circular columnar fane (Old Statistical Account of Scotland, vol. iii. p. 90). Here also heathen sacrifices of bulls were continued at least till late in the seventeenth century.-Dr. Arthur Mitchell's paper on "Supersti tion," in Proceedings of Society of Scottish Antiquaries, vol. iv. pr. 257, 258. 2 Near Baud is the rude statue called the Venus of Quiniple, which, with its obscene rites, is noticed in another chapter. 3 Fremenville's Morbihan, p. 143; his Finistere, p. 92; Souvestre's Derniers Bretons, p. 92. |