CLOOTIE WELL MUNLOCHY BLACK ISLE SCOTLAND GARMENTS AND CLOTHES ON PINE TREES AND BRANCHES THE HILL ABOVE THE WELL
Image details
Contributor:
JOHN BRACEGIRDLE / Alamy Stock PhotoImage ID:
FE484WFile size:
60.9 MB (5 MB Compressed download)Releases:
Model - no | Property - noDo I need a release?Dimensions:
6000 x 3548 px | 50.8 x 30 cm | 20 x 11.8 inches | 300dpiDate taken:
3 February 2016Location:
SCOTLANDMore information:
Clootie wells (also Cloutie or Cloughtie wells) are places of pilgrimage in Celtic areas. They are wells or springs, almost always with a tree growing beside them, where strips of cloth or rags have been left, usually tied to the branches of the tree as part of a healing ritual. In Scots nomenclature, a "clootie" or "cloot" is a strip of cloth or rag. In Scotland, by the village of Munlochy on the A832, is a clootie well at an ancient spring dedicated to Saint Curetán, where rags are still hung on the surrounding bushes and trees. Here the well was once thought to have had the power to cure sick children who were left there overnight. Craigie Well at Avoch on the Black Isle has both offerings of coins and clooties. Rags, wool and human hair were also used as charms against sorcery, and as tokens of penance or fulfilment of a vow.