The Magic of Coin-Trees from Religion to Recreation: The Roots Of A Ritual (Palgrave Historical Studies In Witchcraft And Magic )

By:

Sign Up Now! Already a Member? Log In
You must be logged into Bookshare to access this title. Learn about membership options, or view our freely available titles.

Synopsis
Provides the first book-length study focusing specifically on, and cataloguing, British coin-trees Contributes to debates on the historic relationships between religion, ritual, and popular magic in British contexts.

Utilises an interdisciplinary approach, combining methodologies from folklore, anthropology and archaeology.

This book traces the history of ritual landscapes in the British Isles, and the transition from religious practice to recreation, by focusing on a highly understudied exemplar: the coin-tree. These are trees imbued with magical properties into which coins have been ritually embedded. This is a contemporary custom which can be traced back in the literature to the 1700s, when it was practiced for folk-medical and dedicatory purposes. Today, the custom is widespread, with over 200 coin-trees distributed across the British Isles, but is more akin to the casual deposition of coins in a wishing-well: coins are deposited in the tree in exchange for wishes, good luck, or future fortune. Ceri Houlbrook contributes to the debate on the historic relationships between religion, ritual, and popular magic in British contexts from 1700 to the present.

Copyright:
2018

Book Details

Book Quality:
Publisher Quality
ISBN-13:
9783319755175
Publisher:
Palgrave Macmillan
Date of Addition:
Copyrighted By:
Ceri Houlbrook
Adult content:
No
Language:
English
Has Image Descriptions:
No
Categories:
Religion and Spirituality
Submitted By:
Bookshare Staff
Usage Restrictions:
This is a copyrighted book.

Reviews

No Rating Yet