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HandWiki. Sheela Na Gig. Encyclopedia. Available online: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/33091 (accessed on 26 September 2026).
HandWiki. Sheela Na Gig. Encyclopedia. Available at: https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/33091. Accessed September 26, 2026.
HandWiki. "Sheela Na Gig" Encyclopedia, https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/33091 (accessed September 26, 2026).
HandWiki. (2022, November 04). Sheela Na Gig. In Encyclopedia. https://encyclopedia.pub/entry/33091
HandWiki. "Sheela Na Gig." Encyclopedia. Web. 04 November, 2022.
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Sheela na gigs are figurative carvings of naked women displaying an exaggerated vulva. They are architectural grotesques found all over Europe on churches, castles, and other buildings. The highest concentrations can be found in Ireland, Great Britain, France and Spain, sometimes together with male figures. Ireland has the greatest number of surviving sheela na gig carvings; McMahon and Roberts cite 101 examples in Ireland and 45 examples in Britain. 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. The carvings may have been used to ward off death and evil. 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.
vulva
magic
sheela
References
- Weir, Anthony & Jerman, James Images of Lust: Sexual Carvings on Medieval Churches, London: B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1986 https://books.google.com/books?id=lvgHL_LQ4H8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_similarbooks_s&cad=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false
- Andersen, Jorgen The Witch on the Wall (1977) Rosenkilde & Bagger ISBN:978-87-423-0182-1
- Kelly, Éamonn Sheela Na Gigs. Origins And Function, Country House (1996) ISBN:978-0-946172-51-1.
- McMahon, J. & Roberts, J. The Sheela-na-Gigs of Ireland and Britain: The Divine Hag of the Christian Celts – An Illustrated Guide, Mercier Press Ltd. (2000) ISBN:978-1-85635-294-9
- Freitag, Barbara. Sheela-na-gigs: Unravelling an Enigma (2004) ISBN:0-415-34552-9 https://books.google.com/books?id=Y03UDxXyOb8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_navlinks_s#v=onepage&q=&f=false
- OED Online 2003 – The Dictionary spells the name hyphenated, "Sheela-na-gig"
- Dinneen, Patrick. Foclóir Gaeḋlge agus Béarla, Dublin: Irish Texts Society, 1927
- "IRTRAD archives". Listserv.heanet.ie. 1997-10-22. https://listserv.heanet.ie/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9710&L=IRTRAD-L&D=0&P=89253. Retrieved 2013-03-14.
- Mircea Eliade, editor (1993) The Encyclopedia of Religion, New York: Macmillan, for the University of Chicago ISBN:978-0-02897-135-3
- Murray, Margaret. "Female Fertility Figures," in Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute, Vol. LXIV (1934)
- O'Connor, James. Sheela na gig, Fethard Historical Society, 1991
- Arias, Luz Mar González (2007). Wide-open to Mirth and Wonder: Twentieth-Century Sheela-na-Gigs as Multiple Signifiers of the Female Body. Cork: Cork University Press. pp. 102–118.
- Mullin, Molly (1991). "Representations of History, Irish Feminism, and the Politics of Difference". Feminist Studies 17 (1): 29–50.
- Rhoades, Georgia (2010). "Decoding the Sheela-na-gig". Feminist Formations 22 (2): 167–194.
- Concannon, Maureen (2004). The Sacred Whore: Sheela Goddess of the Celts. The Collins Press. ISBN 978-1903464526.
- See for instance the metope on the Duomo di Modena
- Costa, Joaquim Luís (2015). "Lust and iconography in the Portuguese Romanesque sculpture". Medievalist [Online] (17 (January – June 2015)). http://www2.fcsh.unl.pt/iem/medievalista/MEDIEVALISTA17/joaquimcosta1705.html.
- Alonso Montero, Fernando (2004). "La figura de mujer del petroglifo da Pena Furada (Figueiras, Santa Mariña de Lesa, Coirós, A Coruña)". Anuario Brigantino (27): 161–178. http://anuariobrigantino.betanzos.net/Ab2004PDF/2004%20161-178%20ALONSO%20ROMERO.pdf. Retrieved 3 October 2011.
- Eliade, Mercea The Encyclopedia of Religion 1993; MacMillan Reference Books
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