Houlbrook, Ceri. The Magic of Coin-Trees from Religion to Recreation - The Roots of a Ritual. Springer International Publishing, 2018.
eng

Ceri Houlbrook

The Magic of Coin-Trees from Religion to Recreation

The Roots of a Ritual
  • Springer International Publishing
  • 2018
  • Gebunden
  • 320 Seiten
  • ISBN 9783319755168

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

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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.

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