Votive deposit

An icon of Saint Paraskeva with votive offerings hung beside it. Crete, 2001. The saint holds a plate with two eyeballs on it. She is considered to be a healer of the blind. One of her visitors has left a votive offering (tama) depicting eyes to indicate what her affliction is.

A votive deposit or votive offering is an object left in a sacred place for ritual purposes. Such items are a feature of modern and ancient societies and are generally made in order to gain favour with supernatural forces. Votive offerings have been described in historical Roman era and Greek sources, although similar acts continue into the present day, for example the modern day practice of tossing coins into a wishing well or fountain.

Ancient offerings

In Europe votive deposits date to the Neolithic, with polished axe hoards, reaching a peak in the late Bronze Age. High status artifacts such as swords and spearheads were apparently buried or more commonly cast into bodies of water or peat bogs, whence they could not possibly have been recovered. Often all the objects in a ritual hoard are broken, 'killing' the objects to put them even further beyond utilitarian use before deposition. The purposeful discarding of valuable items such as swords and spearheads is thought to have therefore have had ritual overtones. The items have since been found in rivers, lakes and former wet-places (now drained by modern agriculture) by metal-detectorists, members of the public and archaeologists.

In Mesoamerica, votive deposits have been recovered from the Olmec site of El Manati (dated to 1600-1200 BC) and the Maya Sacred Cenote at Chichen Itza (850-1550 AD).

In archaeology, votive deposits differ from hoards in that although they may contain similar items, votive deposits were not intended for later recovery.

Curse tablets

A curse tablet or defixio is a small sheet of tin or lead on which a message wishing misfortune upon someone else was inscribed. The tablet was subsequently rolled up and thrown into a well or spring. Hundreds of such tablets have been recovered from places such as Aquae Sulis, a Roman bath in England.

Catholic practice

In Catholicism offerings were made as either to fulfill a vow made to God for deliverance, or a thing left to a Church in gratitude for some favor that was granted. Today votives can be lit candles, or offered flowers, statues, vestments, and of course donations.

Ancient examples include:

• Henry III of England had a golden statue of his queen made and placed on the shrine of St. Edward at Westminster
• A falcon in wax at the shrine of St. Wulstan by Edward I
• A diamond and a ruby, adorning the tomb of St. Thomas Becket at Canterbury
• Numerous crutches, left in the grotto at Lourdes
• The song "O Wilhelme, pastor bone" composed by John Taverner is a Votive Antiphon dedicated to Cardinal Wolsey

See also

• Ex-voto
• Grave goods
• Votive candle
• Pinax
• Votive site
• Foundation deposit
• Anathema

External links

• Votive Offerings on the Catholic Encyclopedia (1917)da:Votivgave

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