Life . . . Reframed: Well Dressing - a Beautiful and Remarkable Tradition

Saturday 28 June 2014

Well Dressing - a Beautiful and Remarkable Tradition

There is a charming custom in Derbyshire called “Well Dressing” where the locals create beautiful pictures made of flower petals, seeds, greenery and mud. I haven’t been able to find out much about why it’s done, other than it dates back to Celtic times and it’s thought it was done to thank the water gods for clean water. It’s said that the early Christians were not happy with the custom of dressing wells - they considered it water worship and promptly put an end to it! However, it survived in this area and there are festivals in many of the small towns throughout the summer. There is usually a ceremony to bless the well and the whole town has a big party. The pictures are quite large - up to 4 or 5 feet high, and last for about a week after they have been made. The planning for them starts months ahead of time, and the festivals attract many busloads of people, so I guess it's a pretty good thing for the local economies.

Here’s a link to some more information if you’re interested. http://www.hargate-hall.co.uk/well-dressing-art.php

We visited several towns and here are the pictures. Zoom in and look at the amazing details done with only flower petals, seeds and stems. I especially liked the miniatures done by the children in one town.

In the town of Litton. Notice the 'well' in front of
the picture. This entire picture is made of flower
petals, seeds and grasses.

Description of the various scenes in the well dressing
picture above from Litton.

Detail close-up

The theme for most of the well dressings this year is the 100 year
anniversary of the start of WWI

Another close up.

Description for the well dressing above.

Scarecrows - because I thought they were so cute.
Not because they have anything to do with well dressing
other than the fact that they are in a town with well
dressing pictures.