[Tagging] Feature Proposal - RFC - holy well

Anne-Karoline Distel annekadistel at web.de
Thu Feb 18 23:42:17 UTC 2021


I'm gonna get killed here, if I translate into the imperialistic
language version. Also, "pattern" is not just the patron saint, but the
feast/ mass celebrated on their day, so I cannot translate it with
"patron saint".

Am 18/02/2021 um 21:45 schrieb Volker Schmidt:
> BTW: "pattern" is an Irish English term for "Patron Saint". So that
> part of the definition should be translated fro Irisch English to
> British English.
> And Christian "Saints" are not deities, at least according to the
> official Roman Catholic Teaching. So this would "entty of veneratio
> (Saint, deity,...)"
>
> I am aware of such places also in the Roman Catholic German speaking
> areas. There is often a spring near or even inside a chapel. It works
> in a different way: people go to the chapel and pray to the local
> Saint and use the supposed healing capabilities of the water. For
> example they may wash their head against headaches and the like,
> because that particular spring can help, I guess I would not call the
> well holy, but the chapel would be holy place. Obviously many of these
> places date back to ancient Roman times, when each spring had its own
> deuty. When the Christian faith arrived the priests tried would build
> on the local traditions, and build a chapel or church on top of the
> Roman sanctuary, and replaced the "pagan" deity with a "Christian" Saint.
> What i'm really asking: is the well the holy object of devotion, or
> the nearby chapel or shrine or cross.
> And, obviously, there are other parts of the world where the spring or
> well itself is the residence of a deity..
> Coming back to the Chistian context: I know of places where the chapel
> is near to a spring or well, but not on top of it. And the spring or
> well can be also a short distance away. Would that chapel still be
> "with a holy well", or would the spring be the holy place and the
> chapel a separate, nearby holy place?
>
> Regards
>
> Violker
>
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>
> On Thu, 18 Feb 2021 at 21:50, Anne-Karoline Distel
> <annekadistel at web.de <mailto:annekadistel at web.de>> wrote:
>
>     For Ireland, it is easy enough:
>     Do people call it a holy well? - It is a holy well.
>
>     Is a saint associated with the well? - It is a holy well.
>
>     Do people cross themselves when passing it? - It's a place of worship.
>
>     Do people hold patterns every year? - It is a place of worship.
>
>     Do people leave votive offerings? - It is a place of worship.
>
>     Do people go there to pray? - It is a place of worship.
>
>     Am 18/02/2021 um 20:32 schrieb Mateusz Konieczny via Tagging:
>>     Many places with "miraculous water" / "blessed water" do not
>>     qualify for
>>     amenity=place_of_worship, and such tagging would be incorrect
>>
>>     Feb 18, 2021, 21:25 by bert.araali.afritastic at gmail.com
>>     <mailto:bert.araali.afritastic at gmail.com>:
>>
>>         Dear Anne,
>>
>>         You should abstain from using specific religious terms like
>>         "holy" and "paganism".
>>         To my honest opinion the existing tagging schemes and
>>         attribution for amenity=place_of_worship combined with
>>         tourist=attraction offer enough flexibility and most of all
>>         neutrality in the religious context to suite your needs.
>>         Of course there are numerous wells across the world with
>>         either a religious significance (sometimes the same well is
>>         significant in different religions or to different
>>         denominations). Some have significance for tourism purposes,
>>         others might be preferred by the worshippers, to be
>>         accessible only in a more private context.
>>         Please read through the related wiki pages, to my opinion
>>         very detailed and of high quality to address your local
>>         specific needs and offering enough variation for any
>>         religious or tourist related significance. You can extend
>>         them to suite your specific needs, I personally see no need
>>         for a new key or value for this purpose or revert to a
>>         proposal if you feel you need broader confirmation from the
>>         community. Do respect neutrality in the additions or
>>         modifications.
>>
>>         Greetings, Bert Araali
>>
>>
>>         On 18/02/2021 21:31, Anne-Karoline Distel wrote:
>>>
>>>         I understand it's a bit of a tricky one. Wishing wells/
>>>         fountains mostly used by tourists should not count, because
>>>         there is not an established religion behind that thinking of
>>>         leaving a coin for good luck. They are all votive offerings
>>>         though, no matter if they are rags or coins or whatever else
>>>         people leave there (probably masks now, I haven't been to a
>>>         site since lockdown).
>>>
>>>         Good rule of thumb: If it has a saint's name attached, it's
>>>         a holy well. Or rather "holy well".
>>>
>>>         Anne
>>>
>>>         Am 18/02/2021 um 16:04 schrieb Volker Schmidt:
>>>>         Interesting idea.
>>>>         But difficult to define.
>>>>         There is a wide spectrum from really sacred places, like
>>>>         chapels with a spring inside to the wells or fountains
>>>>         where people go with plastic bottles
>>>>         to collect "good" or "healthy" water.and the wells that
>>>>         tourists fill with coins (no drinking water there).
>>>>         I would rather see this somehow under the tourism tent -
>>>>         pilgrimage is the original form of tourism.
>>>>
>>>>         Volker
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>>         On Thu, 18 Feb 2021 at 14:42, Anne-Karoline Distel
>>>>         <annekadistel at web.de <mailto:annekadistel at web.de>> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>             It's me again, full of ideas.
>>>>
>>>>             I propose a tag for holy wells, one of the reasons
>>>>             being that my local
>>>>             council wants them mapped and I've been trying to
>>>>             convince them to use
>>>>             OSM for a while. Also, because it would entice rural
>>>>             mappers to get
>>>>             started and because they play a role in tourism (if you
>>>>             count pilgrimage
>>>>             as tourism).
>>>>
>>>>             https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposed_features/holy_well
>>>>             <https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Proposed_features/holy_well>
>>>>
>>>>             I'm especially interested in other religions'
>>>>             perspective, but I don't
>>>>             know if this phenomenon exists outside Christianity and
>>>>             Paganism.
>>>>
>>>>             Cheers,
>>>>
>>>>             Anne
>>>>
>>>>
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>>>>
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>>
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