![]() What’s That Got To Do With The Brøndmand? So throwing coins into the well for good luck or wishes evolved from a small and earnest mode of sacrifice to the god of a particular well as the tradition of it as paying a homage to the god itself went out of fashion. *Photos obviously not mine, as I have never been to England. It used to be that wells would sometimes be marked with statues or carvings representing a god or spirit dedicated to that well, also seen in the form of English well-dressing! Well-dressing, while now done here and there for less religious sorts of imagery, helped serve as yet another way of Christianizing old traditions to ease the transition to Christianity from paganism, and wells would often be “dressed” with images of Saints and scenes from the Bible. Art Credit to Cosmic Chameleon on Deviantart Odin threw an eye into this well for wisdom, for instance. One would throw something precious or very important into the well as a sacrifice, and receive infinite knowledge. Wells were associated with healing, luck, and even wisdom, stemming from Mímir’s Well in Nordic mythology, which sits at the roots of Yggdrasil and waters the tree of life. Wells, of course, were considered sacred and significant. ![]() Wishing wells at the very, very beginning, stem from old Germanic traditions of throwing your fallen enemy’s armor and weapons into bogs or lakes or other bodies of water as offerings to the gods. Old Germanic Traditions And Gods Of The Wells There are a few different angles of this that I was really taken with while I was researching, in particular, how it might be connected to wishing wells. A Closer Look At The Well Man Mythos Art Credit to Jinetix on Deviantart I wouldn’t be surprised if much of the lore attributed to the modern Well Man stems from older folklore, still, as much of it makes sense when you take into account the superstitions that surround wells, themselves, or that used to. That or he knocks the water out of the bucket and must be bribed to go away. If I’m remembering correctly, he was small so he could fit in the well-bucket, and would hitch a ride up when you draw water. I have, however, seen Norwegian and Icelandic people online discuss this Well Man concept, and older Scandinavians seems to recall modern scare-tales of the Well Man as being of a small, blood-covered man, more how Western minds would envision a gnome, perhaps, if a gnome were bathed in slaughter? ![]() The long-limbed skinny midnight horror embodiment is a very modern take on the Well Man myth, and I’m actually not sure where that precise imagery stems from, even after looking into the subject extensively. Take a look: Pretty cool, right? Thanks, thehumon, wherever you are. Thanks for nothing, reverse image search!) Here’s The tl dr.Ī very short and easy summary of the general modern interpretation of the Brøndmand, or Well Man, can be found in a post that, after extensive looking for the original artist, seems to come from thehumon on Tumblr (who unfortunately forgot to watermark their work, and might’ve deleted the original posting. We’ll be jumping in right at the end with this one, and learning a little bit about a creature briefly touched on in Prison, Called Hole! I Am Not a Professional. Sent out in the second edition of the KZ’s Messy Desk newsletter:
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