"the more modern these folk customs are, the more I’m intrigued"

June 30, 2017 7:52 AM

In the Ardmaddy Wishing-Tree Project folklorist Ceri Houlbrook details her excavation of 700 coins which had fallen out of a coin or "wishing" tree near Ardmaddy Castle in Scotland. In addition to documenting these coin encrusted trees, Houlbrook has a larger project The Concealed Reveal which focuses on things deliberately hidden and then found. (prev.)
posted by jessamyn (3 comments total)

Neat stuff. Better a tree than an airliner.
posted by exogenous at 9:12 AM on June 30, 2017 [2 favorites]

My gut reaction is that this seems so very wasteful and damaging to the environment.

But I get it. Humans do these types of things, because reasons and superstition and because its there.
posted by Fizz at 9:54 AM on June 30, 2017 [1 favorite]

Oh fantastic. I'm adding this to my syllabus, alongside the archaeology of wishing wells (for example, 1, 2) and other emergent traditions of folk magic and control of the future such as Love Locks.
posted by Rumple at 10:47 AM on June 30, 2017 [4 favorites]