The Magic of Coin-Trees from Religion to Recreation

The Roots of a Ritual

By:

Ceri Houlbrook

Format:

Paperback / softback

Series:

Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic

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Description

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.

Author Biography:

Ceri Houlbrook is Early Career Researcher of History and Folklore at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, and the co-editor of The Materiality of Magic: An Artefactual Investigation into Ritual Practices and Popular Beliefs and Magical Folk: British and Irish Fairies.

Release date NZ

January 4th, 2019

Author

Ceri Houlbrook

Audience

Professional & Vocational

Edition

Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2018

Illustrations

25 Illustrations, color; X, 307 p. 25 illus. in color.

Pages

307

Series

Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic

ISBN-13

9783030092528

Product ID

30326663

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