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.