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Sheela na gigs are figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated
vulva. They are
architectural grotesques found on
churches,
castles, and other buildings, particularly in
Ireland and
Great Britain, sometimes together with male figures. One of the best examples may be found in the
Round Tower at
Rattoo, in
County Kerry, Ireland. There is a replica of the round tower sheela na gig in the County Museum in
Tralee town. Another well-known example may be seen at
Kilpeck in
Herefordshire, England.
Ireland has the greatest number of surviving sheela na gig carvings;
McMahon and Roberts cite 101 examples in Ireland and 45 examples in
Britain.
[1]
Such carvings are said to ward off
death and
evil.
[2][3] Other
grotesques, such as
gargoyles and
hunky punks, were frequently part of church decorations all over
Europe. It is commonly said that their purpose was to keep
evil spirits away (see
apotropaic magic). They often are positioned over doors or windows, presumably to protect these openings.
Scholars disagree about the origins of the figures. James Jerman and
Anthony Weir believe that the sheela na gigs were first carved in
France and
Spain in the 11th century; the motif eventually reached Britain and then Ireland in the 12th century.
[3] Jerman and Weir's work was a continuation of research begun by Jorgen Andersen, who wrote
The Witch on the Wall (1977), the first serious book on sheela na gigs.
[2] Eamonn Kelly, Keeper of Irish Antiquities at the
National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, draws attention to the distribution of sheela na gigs in Ireland to support Weir and Jerman's theory;
[4] almost all of the surviving
in situ sheela na gigs are found in areas of
Anglo-Norman conquest (12th century). The areas that remained "native Irish" have few sheela na gigs.
[4] Weir and Jerman also argue that their location on churches and the grotesque features of the figures, by
medieval standards, suggests that they represented female
lust as hideous and
sinfully corrupting.
[3]
Another theory, espoused by Joanne McMahon and Jack Roberts, is that the carvings are remnants of a pre-Christian
fertility or
mother goddess religion.
[1]
They note what they claim are differences in materials and styles of
some sheela na gigs from their surrounding structures, and noting that
some are turned on their side, to support the idea that they were
incorporated from previous structures into
early Christian buildings.
In addition, typical
continental
exhibitionist figures differ from those of Irish sheela na gigs. There
is a scarcity of male figures in Ireland and the UK, while the
continental carvings are more likely to involve male figures.
Continental figures also are represented in more contortionist postures.
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, County Tipperary, Ireland; the name also was recorded in 1840 by John O'Donovan, an official of the
Ordnance Survey of Ireland, referring to a figure on
Kiltinan Castle, County Tipperary.
[2] Scholars disagree about the origin and meaning of the name in Ireland, as it is not directly translatable into
Irish. Alternative spellings of "Sheela" may sometimes be encountered; they include
Sheila,
Síle and
Síla.
[1][2][5] According to the
Oxford English Dictionary, it is derived from
Irish,
Síle na gcíoch, meaning "Julia of the breasts".
[6]
The name "Seán-na-Gig" was coined by Jack Roberts for the
ithyphallic male counterpart of the Sheela. While rare in Ireland, it is much more common on the continent.
[3]
Jørgen Andersen writes that the name is an
Irish phrase, originally either
Sighle na gCíoch, meaning "the
old hag of the breasts", or
Síle ina Giob, meaning "Sheila (from the Irish
Síle, the Irish form of the Anglo-Norman name Cecile or Cecilia) on her hunkers".
[2] Dinneen also gives
Síle na gCíoċ, stating it is "a stone fetish representing a woman, supposed to give fertility, gnly [=
generally] thought to have been introduced by the Normans."
[7] Other researchers have questioned these interpretations;
[3] few sheela na gigs are shown with breasts, and expressed doubt about the linguistic connection between
ina Giob and
na Gig. The phrase "sheela na gig" was said to be a term for a hag or old woman.
[5]
Barbara Freitag devotes a chapter to the
etymology of the name in her book,
Sheela-Na-Gigs: Unravelling an Enigma. She documents references earlier than 1840, including a
Royal Navy ship,
Sheela Na Gig,
and an 18th-century dance called the Sheela na gig. Irish slip jig,
first published as "The Irish Pot Stick" (c.1758), appears as "Shilling a
Gig" in Brysson's
A Curious Collection of Favourite Tunes (1791) and "Sheela na Gigg" in Hime's
48 Original Irish Dances (c.1795).
[8] These are the oldest recorded references to the name,
[5] but do not apply to the architectural figures. The Royal Navy's records indicate the name refers to an "Irish female sprite".
[5] Freitag discovered that "gig" was a
Northern English slang word for a woman's genitals. A similar word in modern Irish slang "Gigh" (pronounced
[ɡʲiː]) also exists, further confusing the possible origin of the name.
Weir and Jerman use the name sheela for the figure because it had entered popular usage; they also call figures of both sexes "
exhibitionist".
[3] They cite Andersen's second chapter as a good discussion of the name.
[2]
Andersen says there is no evidence that "sheela na gig" was ever a
popular name for the figures when they were created. It arose during the
mid-19th century "where popular understanding of the characteristics of
a sheela were vague and people were wary of its apparent rudeness". An
earlier reference to the dubious nature of the name is made by H.C.
Lawlor in an article in
Man Vol. 31, Jan 1931 (Royal
Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland), in which he
writes, "The term "sheela-na-gig" has no etymological meaning and is an
absurd name." Andersen, Weir and Jerman, and Freitag all dismiss the
name as being modern and somewhat arbitrary.
[2][3][5]
The oldest recorded name for one of the figures is "The Idol," which relates to the Binstead figure on the
Isle of Wight. This name was mentioned by R. Worsley in his
The History of the Isle of Wight (1781) and noted also by J. Albin in
A New, Correct, and Much-improved History of the Isle of Wight (1795) (Andersen page 11). The name "The Idol" also was applied to a now lost figure in
Lusk, Ireland and was recorded as being in use around 1783.
Much of the disagreement among scholars about these figures focuses on
determining exactly what they are meant to represent, and no theory
explains all the figures.
A popular hypothesis is that sheela na gigs represent a pagan
goddess, but academics believe the situation was more complex, with
multiple interpretations and roles for the female character as spiritual
traditions changed over time.
[2][3][5] The goddess in question usually is identified as Celtic, the hag-like
Cailleach figure of Irish and Scottish mythology.
Margaret Murray
proposed this, as did Anne Ross, who wrote in her essay, "The Divine
Hag of the Pagan Celts", "I would like to suggest that in their earliest
iconographic form they do in fact portray the territorial or
war-goddess in her hag-like aspect..."
Most recently Maureen Concannon supported the goddess theory in her book,
The Sacred Whore: Sheela Goddess of the Celts. She associates the figures with the "
mother goddess".
[9]
Mircea Eliade's
The Encyclopedia of Religion
(1993) draws parallels between the sheela na gig and the ancient Irish
myth of the goddess who granted kingship. She would appear as a lustful
hag, and most men would refuse her advances, except for one man who
accepted. When he slept with her, she was transformed into a beautiful
maiden who would confer royalty onto him and bless his reign.
There are
additional variants of this common
Northern European motif (see "
Loathly lady").
[10]
Andersen devotes a chapter to this theory, entitled "Pagan or
Medieval." While suggesting possible pagan influences on Irish sheela na
gigs, he firmly places them in a medieval context.
[2]
He argues that pagan origins are less likely than influence from the
continent during the medieval period: "What can be said against it, is
that it is less easily proved and can be less easily illustrated than
the possible continental, French origin for the motif discussed in
earlier chapters...." (
The Witch on the Wall, p. 95).
Weir and Jerman explore the possible influence of the
Baubo
figurine on the motif, but they acknowledge that the link is tenuous.
They write, "It makes for very interesting speculation, but the amount
of evidence is not large".
[3]
Freitag explores possible Celtic pagan origins, but finds little to
suggest a link "...in particular the notion of the divine hag being a
portrayal of the Ur-Sheela has to be firmly dismissed as wayward
conjecture." (
Sheela na gigs: Unravelling an Enigma, page 41). Although scholars have used evidence to reject the theory, it is popularly held.
This hypothesis usually is combined with the "goddess" explanation for
the figures discussed above. Barbara Freitag suggests that the figures
were used in a fertility context and associates them with "birthing
stones".
[5]
There is folkloric evidence of at least some of the sheela na gigs
being used in this manner, with the figures being loaned out to women in
labour.
[5] Other figures have wedding traditions associated with them. According to Margaret Murray, the figure in
Oxford at the church of
St Michael at the North Gate has an associated tradition of being shown to brides on their wedding day.
[11]
This theory does not cover all the figures: some are thin with their
ribs showing and thin breasts, which do not signal fertility.
[12] Others are plump and are shown in a sexual context with a partner (as at
Whittlesford). Theresa Oakley and Alex Woodcock recently discovered an exhibitionist couple at
Devizes, who seem to represent fertility. The faces of some figures are striated, indicating scarring or tattoos.
[2] Weir notes that a close examination of the figures reveals features that do not fit a fertility function.
Weir and Jerman suggested that the sheela na gigs served to warn against lust.
[3]
They see the figures as a religious warning against sins of the flesh.
Exhibitionist figures of all types—male, female, and bestial—are
frequently found in the company of images of beasts devouring people and
other hellish images. These images, they argue, were used as a means of
religious instruction to a largely illiterate populace. As part of this
interpretation, they explore a continental origin for the figures.
Andersen first suggested this origin, and Weir and Jerman continued and
expanded this line of inquiry. They argue that the motif migrated from
the continent via the
pilgrim routes to and from
Santiago de Compostella.
(Freitag argues against this.) Pilgrim sculptors took notes of what
they had seen on the route and ended up carving their own
interpretations of the motifs. Eventually, the exhibitionist motif was
carried to Ireland and Britain. This theory seems to accommodate many of
the religious figures but relates less well to some of the secular
ones. Images carved on castles would not seem to be serving a religious
purpose. The figure at
Haddon Hall appears on a stable (although this may have been moved from elsewhere). The theory does not cover all the figures.
Andersen
[2] and Weir and Jerman think the figures may also have been used as protection against evil.
[3] This would cover the use of the figures on structures such as castles. They served an
apotropaic function, designed to ward off evil. In Ireland, some of the figures were called "The
Evil Eye Stones," which supported their theory. There is also some folkloric evidence of
anasyrma being used by women lifting up their dresses to curse
evil spirits. Andersen reproduces an 18th-century illustration by
Charles Eisen from
La Fontaine's
Nouveaux Contes
(1764) showing a demon being repulsed by the sight of a woman lifting
her skirt to display her genitals. Weir and Jerman relate a story from
The Irish Times
(23 September 1977) in which a potentially violent incident involving
several men was averted by a woman exposing her genitals to them. But,
they also doubt if the story was true. Weir and Jerman go on to suggest
that the
apotropaic
function seems to have been gradually ascribed to the figures over
time. While this theory seems to fit most of the secular and some of the
religious figures, it does not apply to all of them.
