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.

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

Autorentext

Owen Davies Is Professor of Social History at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. He has published widely on the history of witchcraft, magic, ghosts, and popular medicine, including most recently, A Supernatural War: Magic, Divination, and Faith During the First World War (2018). Ceri Houlbrook is a Folklore and History Lecturer at the University of Hertfordshire, UK. Her primary research interests are the material culture of ritual practices and popular beliefs, and contemporary folklore. She has previously published on the modern-day customs of coin-trees and love-locks.

Inhalt
Chapter 1. Introduction: Coining the Coin Tree.- Chapter 2. Roots of a Ritual.- Chapter 3. The Democratization of the Landscape.- Chapter 4. Contemporary Engagement.- Chapter 5. The Mutability of Meaning.- Chapter 6. Manipulating Meaning.- Chapter 7. Green Monuments and their Heritage.- Chapter 8. Concluding Thoughts.- Index.