Sheela Na Gig
Sheela-na-Gigs or Sheela Na Gigs are figurative carvings of naked females displaying an exaggerated vulva. They are found on churches, castles and other buildings in Ireland and Britain, sometimes together with male figures. An example can be seen at Kilpeck in Herefordshire. The name was first published in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 1840–44, as a local name for a carving once present on a church gable wall in Rochestown, Co. Tipperary, Ireland; the name was also recorded in 1840 by John O'Donovan, an official of the Ordnance Survey of Ireland, referring to a figure on a church in Kiltinane, County Tipperary, Ireland. There is controversy regarding the origin and meaning of the name. Eamonn Kelly, Keeper of Irish Antiquities at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, writes that the name is an Irish Gaelic phrase, possibly arising from Sighle na gCioch, meaning "the old hag of the breasts", or Sile-ina-Giob, meaning "sheela (a name for an old woman) on her hunkers".
There is also controversy regarding the source of the Sheelas. One perspective is that the sheelas were first carved in France and Spain in the 11th century, and reached England and then Ireland in the 12th century. Eamonn Kelly points to the distribution of sheelas in Ireland to support this theory; almost all of the surviving in situ sheelas are found in areas of Anglo-Norman conquest (12th century), while the areas which remained "native Irish" boast only a few sheelas. Ronald Hutton argues that their location on churches and ugliness by mediæval standards suggests that they were used to represent female lust as hideous and sinfully corrupting. Another theory, espoused by Joanne Mcmahon & Jack Roberts, is that the carvings are remnants of a pre-Christian fertility or Mother Goddess religion. To support this claim, they point to the differences in materials and styles of the sheelas from their surrounding structures, and that some sheelas are turned on their side, to support the idea that they were incorporated from previous structures into early-Christian structures. There are differences between typical "continental" exhibitionist figures and Irish sheelas, including the lack of male figures in Ireland and the UK while the continental carvings are more likely to involve male figures, and the more "contortionist" postures of continental figures.
Such carvings are said to ward off death and evil. Other grotesques such as gargoyles and Hunky Punks are frequently found on churches all over Europe and it is commonly said that they are there to keep evil spirits away.
References
- Ronald Hutton, The Pagan Religions of the Ancient British Isles
- Joanne Mcmahon & Jack Roberts, "The Sheela-Na-Gigs of Ireland and Britain" – contains comprehensive list of locations, and illustrations, of sheelas in Ireland and the U.K.
- Eamonn P. Kelly, "Sheela-Na-Gigs: Origins and Functions"
- Jorgen Anderson, "The Witch on the Wall: Medieval Erotic Sculpture in the British Isles"
External links
- SheelaNaGig.org – A guide to Sheela Na Gigs carvings and Sheela Na Gigs in the United Kingdom
- The Sheela Na Gig at the Teach Shinanna website
- Goddess or Queen? – The enigmatic carving at Braunston in Rutland