Vagina MuseumHappy Sheelah's Day. This feast, largely no longer celebrated in Ireland, commemorates either St Patrick's wife or mother, who probably didn't exist. So let's celebrate a similarly-named mysterious figure today instead: the sheela na gig!
A sheela na gig is a grotesque carving found in churches built around the 11th or 12th century. These carvings depict a figure with an exaggerated vulva, usually holding it open.
The highest concentration of surviving sheela na gigs are in Britain and Ireland, but they can be found throughout western Europe. Despite the Irish name, it's likely that they originated in France and Spain and came over with the Normans.
The etymology of sheela na gig is likely Irish, possibly rooted in "Sheila of the breasts", "old hag", or related to "gee" or "gig", which is still used as slang for vulva in the north of England, Scotland and Ireland.
The symbolism of putting stone carvings in a proud pussy-out pose all over old churches is also unknown. Possible explanations include survival of a pagan goddess like Cailleach, the hag of Celtic mythology, or wider symbolism of fertility.
Other proposed explanations have been that the power of the vulva is a protective force. Or a wildly different interpretation that the proud hag serves as a warning against lust.
Basically, nobody really knows why these carvings were so popular.
So next time you're in an old church in Britain, Ireland or western Europe, look up. You might just find a vertical smile beaming down on you.
Dan Q@vagina_museum Excellent!
I'd love to know where all of the pictured grotesques were found, if you know?
I'd love to know where all of the pictured grotesques were found, if you know?
Emma Cox@dan @vagina_museum I know the first imagine is from Kilpeck Church.
guenther@vagina_museum Saint Patrick's mother didn't exist?
Seachaint@guenther @vagina_museum The gods his story is based on generally have a Water-Mother-Goddess for a mum, and I've never seen SΓle used as a name for that kind of goddess. So my guess would be a wife. But I've also never seen a SΓle mentioned yet in the mythological or hagiographical matter, either. So.. Who knows? :)
Lugh did have at least two wives, what's one more..
https://buttondown.com/godsandcroziers/archive/mar-17th-patrick-lugh-lugaid-purusha-cosmic-man/
GUIMARD
Thatβs a moray@lepetitprinceroucky @vagina_museum I don't think that's a vagina....
Mme Zabet@vagina_museum Don't forget the maps!
Ireland-specific:
http://www.irelands-sheelanagigs.org/map-of-ireland/
European:
https://sheelanagig.org/map/
afreytes, ποΈβπ¨οΈofπ΅π·@vagina_museum "Vulva protect me", is the spoken ward I have always needed but didn't know until today. Thank you!
ΠΠΈΠΌΠΈΜΡΡΠΈΠΉ
Jargoggles@vagina_museum
"Basically, nobody really knows why these carvings were so popular."
I mean... beyond the deeper meaning behind the statues, I'm sure there's also at least one compelling mundane reason why people liked making them.
Sweet Home Alaberta π¨π¦ πΊπ¦ π³οΈβπ π³οΈββ§οΈ π²π½@vagina_museum
TIL that the alien from ET is female.
TIL that the alien from ET is female.
Pino Carafa
Nege 
@vagina_museum ah, Front Goatse
RE: https://masto.ai/@vagina_museum/116250013275583880
@vagina_museum
Is this where the "shelia" slang for women in Australia originated?
"This word first appeared in Australian English in 1832 with the spelling shelah. It was initially used in Australia to refer to a woman of Irish origin, but from the late 19th century onwards it became a general term for a woman or girl."
https://anguskidman.show/2023/07/25/sheila-chisholm-slang-etymology/
@NMBA Not really - Sheila/Sheelah was (and remains) a fairly popular Irish name, so think of it more like the derogatory use of Paddy for Irish men.
Jessie Kirk β’ π³οΈββ§οΈ π¬π± π΅πΈ πΊπ¦@vagina_museum Kinda wonder whom Patrick's mother was. We know his father was a Roman decurion, but nothing about her. Maybe she died or Patrick never knew her? Or maybe just some 5th Century sexism.
Blogfeedser@vagina_museum How come St Patrick's mother didn't exist? π€
I already knew that Adam and Eve's mother didn't (even though they had belly buttons) - unless she was the one who created them.
Jay@Blogfeedser @vagina_museum Hang on, how did people know they had bellybuttons?
@Blogfeedser @vagina_museum To be fair, the European artists also made Biblical figures white and often wearing medieval clothing/armor, which I think is less theological doctrine and more Eurocentrism.
Now this makes me wonder how many paintings depict a pre-Fall Adam as circumcised.π€ Or any Biblical figure before Abra(ha)m, for that matter.
WesDym@vagina_museum I'm willing to bet his mother existed.
ben@vagina_museum here's another, carved into the chalk in a cave under a crossroads in Royston, Hertfordshire
most of the figures there look like they could be sheela-na-gig(s) - uh if you squint. There's been erosion / vandalism.
Gerard Cunningham βοΈ@vagina_museum I thought I'd heard all the Sheelanagig rameis, but that's a new one..
The Orange Theme@vagina_museum Okay, Sheelah! Werk, diva! π
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