Dressing Up ... Well
Dressing Up... Well
If you live in Derbyshire your greenery and flowers may well be carefully cultivated for use in an annual Well Dressing – another custom whose antiquity is believed to go back to pre-Christian times.
Water, regarded as the necessity of life, was highly respected and regular ceremonies and offerings at springs and wells were intended to appease the water deities thought to inhabit them. Despite opposition from the Church and the rededicating of many to more ‘respectable’ Christian saints, these ‘holy wells’ were still revered and visited for the curative properties of the waters. The ceremonies became a thanksgiving for pure water. But waters were thought more potent if drunk on particular days and May Day and Ascension Day were regarded as particularly beneficial.
The wells are ‘dressed’ with large framed panels decorated with elaborate mosaic-like pictures made of flowers and leaves. Large, shallow wooden frames are filled with smooth moist clay onto which are pressed leaves, flower petals, berries, mosses, pine-cones, and other natural materials to make up the colourful image. The subjects, which differ every year, are usually Biblical scenes, although more recently modern themes co-exist. Paddington Bear appeared in the Year of the Child and Morris Men in Heritage Year. Whales, dolphins and global warming have been used as themes in our more ecologically aware times.
Initially, the designs are drawn onto large sheets of paper and then, using a needle, the lines are pricked through to the clay surface. These outlines are usually then emphasised using berries and seeds, the main areas filled in last of all with the colourful petals – usually the day before the dressing ceremony. The completed dressings, which are often 10-12 feet high, will remain bright for about a week, though this will depend on the weather. A light spraying with water helps to keep the clay moist and the vegetation fresh.
Lichen and oatmeal are regularly used and even grains of rice and sago. The rule seems to be only organic matter. Spaghetti, and even human hair, has been included in more recent dressings and this has led to some controversy. The artistic rivalry between villages is not inconsiderable. The first dressings of the season occur at Tissington in Derbyshire on Ascension Day with Etwell and Wirksworth later in the month. These dressings continue throughout the summer months in Derbyshire, North Nottinghamshire, with one or two in Staffordshire and Gloucestershire.
There has been a noticeable increase in the number of wells dressed over the past 15 years. There were over 150 last year and a detailed programme can be obtained from the Peak Tourist Office in Bakewell.
