Sheela na gig

[2] 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.

[1] 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;[5] almost all of the surviving in situ sheela na gigs are found in areas of Anglo-Norman conquest (12th century).

[5] Weir and Jerman also argue their location on churches and the grotesque features of the figures, by medieval standards, suggests they represented female lust as hideous and sinfully corrupting.

[2] Another theory, espoused by Joanne McMahon and Jack Roberts, is the carvings are remnants of a pre-Christian fertility or mother goddess religion.

[citation needed] The name was first published in the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy 1840–1844, 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.

[4][1][6] According to the Oxford English Dictionary, it is derived from Irish, Síle na gcíoch, meaning "Julia of the breasts".

[10] A similar word in modern Irish slang gigh (pronounced [ɟiː]) also exists, further confusing the possible origin of the name.

31, January 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."

A popular hypothesis is 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.

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".

[10] 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.

Weir and Jerman explore the possible influence of the ancient Greek Baubo figurine on the motif, but they acknowledge the link is tenuous.

[2] 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).

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.

Theresa Oakley and Alex Woodcock recently discovered an exhibitionist couple at Devizes, who seem to represent fertility.

[2] 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.

[1] 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.

[2] Feminist scholarship has reinterpreted the concept of the sheela na gig especially in terms of the image as evil or embodiment of sin.

Reverence for female sexuality and vulvas can be seen in the art of Judy Chicago's The Dinner Party and The Vagina Monologues by Eve Ensler.

In Wide-open to Mirth and Wonder, Luz Mar González-Arias argues that the creative re-imagining of this medieval female figure can "encourage contemporary women to stop perceiving their own corporeality as a heavy, awkward and shameful burden of guilt".

At one time, they were mistakenly thought to be a uniquely Irish practice; however, scholars realized that the sheela na gig motif could be found all over western and central Europe.

[1][2] Accurate numbers of figures are difficult to reach, as the interpretation of what is a sheela na gig will vary among scholars.

Called dilukai (or dilugai), they are typically shown with legs splayed, revealing a large, black, triangular pubic area; the hands rest upon the thighs.