Widdershins (sometimes withershins, widershins or widderschynnes) is a term meaning to go counter-clockwise, anti-clockwise, or lefthandwise, or to walk around an object by always keeping it on the left. Literally, it means to take a course opposite the apparent motion of the sun viewed from the

Northern Hemisphere The Northern Hemisphere is the half of Earth that is north of the equator. For other planets in the Solar System, north is defined by humans as being in the same celestial sphere, celestial hemisphere relative to the invariable plane of the Solar ...

(the face of this imaginary clock is the ground the viewer stands upon). The earliest recorded use of the word, as cited by the ''

Oxford English Dictionary The ''Oxford English Dictionary'' (''OED'') is the principal historical dictionary of the English language, published by Oxford University Press (OUP), a University of Oxford publishing house. The dictionary, which published its first editio ...

'', is in a 1513 translation of the ''

Aeneid The ''Aeneid'' ( ; or ) is a Latin Epic poetry, epic poem that tells the legendary story of Aeneas, a Troy, Trojan who fled the Trojan War#Sack of Troy, fall of Troy and travelled to Italy, where he became the ancestor of the Ancient Rome ...

'', where it is found in the phrase "Abaisit I wolx, and widdersyns start my hair." In this sense, "widdershins start my hair" means "my hair stood on end". The use of the word also means "in a direction opposite to the usual" and "in a direction contrary to the apparent course of the sun". It is

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

with the

German language German (, ) is a West Germanic language in the Indo-European language family, mainly spoken in Western Europe, Western and Central Europe. It is the majority and Official language, official (or co-official) language in Germany, Austria, Switze ...

''widersinnig'', i.e., "against" + "sense". The term "widdershins" was especially common in Lowland Scots. The opposite of widdershins is ''deosil'', or ''sunwise'', meaning "clockwise".

Etymology

Widdershins comes from Middle Low German ''weddersinnes'', literally "against the way" (i.e. "in the opposite direction"), from ''widersinnen'' "to go against", from Old High German elements ''widar'' "against" and ''sinnen'' "to travel, go", related to ''sind'' "journey".

Superstition and religion

Because the sun played a highly important role in older religions, to go against it was considered bad luck for sun-worshiping traditions. It was considered unlucky in

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

to travel in an

anticlockwise Two-dimensional rotation can occur in two possible directions or senses of rotation. Clockwise motion (abbreviated CW) proceeds in the same direction as a clock's hands relative to the observer: from the top to the right, then down and then to ...

(not

sunwise Sunwise, sunward or deasil (sometimes spelled ''deosil''), are terms meaning to go clockwise or in the direction of the sun, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. The opposite term is ''widdershins'' (Middle Low German), or ''tuathal'' (Scottish ...

) direction around a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

, and a number of folk myths make reference to this

superstition A superstition is any belief or practice considered by non-practitioners to be irrational or supernatural, attributed to fate or magic (supernatural), magic, perceived supernatural influence, or fear of that which is unknown. It is commonly app ...

; for example, in the fairy tale

Childe Rowland Childe Rowland is a fairy tale, the most popular version written by Joseph Jacobs in his ''English Fairy Tales'', published in 1890, based on an earlier version published in 1814 by Robert Jamieson. Jamieson's was repeating a "Scottish ballad", ...

, the protagonist and his sister are transported to Elfland after the sister runs widdershins round a church. There is also a reference to this in

Dorothy Sayers Dorothy Leigh Sayers ( ; 13 June 1893 – 17 December 1957) was an English crime novelist, playwright, translator and critic. Born in Oxford, Sayers was brought up in rural East Anglia and educated at Godolphin School in Salisbury and Somervi ...

's novels ''

The Nine Tailors ''The Nine Tailors'' is a 1934 mystery novel by the British writer Dorothy L. Sayers, her ninth featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. The story is set in the Lincolnshire Fens, and revolves around a group of bell-ringers at the local parish church. The ...

'' (chapter entitled The Second Course; "He turned to his right, knowing that it is unlucky to walk about a church widdershins ...") and ''

Clouds of Witness ''Clouds of Witness'' is a 1926 mystery novel by Dorothy L. Sayers, the second in her series featuring Lord Peter Wimsey. In the United States the novel was first published in 1927 under the title ''Clouds of Witnesses''. It was adapted for ...

'' ("True, O King, and as this isn't a church, there's no harm in going round it widdershins"). In

Robert Louis Stevenson Robert Louis Stevenson (born Robert Lewis Balfour Stevenson; 13 November 1850 – 3 December 1894) was a Scottish novelist, essayist, poet and travel writer. He is best known for works such as ''Treasure Island'', ''Strange Case of Dr Jekyll ...

's tale "The Song of the Morrow," an old crone on the beach dances "widdershins". In the

Eastern Orthodox Church The Eastern Orthodox Church, officially the Orthodox Catholic Church, and also called the Greek Orthodox Church or simply the Orthodox Church, is List of Christian denominations by number of members, one of the three major doctrinal and ...

and the

Oriental Orthodox The Oriental Orthodox Churches are Eastern Christianity, Eastern Christian churches adhering to Miaphysitism, Miaphysite Christology, with approximately 50 million members worldwide. The Oriental Orthodox Churches adhere to the Nicene Christian ...

Churches it is normal for processions around a church to travel in an anticlockwise direction. This remains the case regardless of which hemisphere they are performed in. In

Judaism Judaism () is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic, Monotheism, monotheistic, ethnic religion that comprises the collective spiritual, cultural, and legal traditions of the Jews, Jewish people. Religious Jews regard Judaism as their means of o ...

circles are also sometimes walked anticlockwise. For example, when a bride circles her groom seven times before marriage, when dancing around the bimah during

Simchat Torah Simchat Torah (; Ashkenazi: ), also spelled Simhat Torah, is a Jewish holiday that celebrates and marks the conclusion of the annual cycle of public Torah readings, and the beginning of a new cycle. Simchat Torah is a component of the Hebrew Bible ...

(or when dancing in a circle at any time), or when the

Sefer Torah file:SeferTorah.jpg, A Sephardic Torah scroll rolled to the first paragraph of the Shema file:Köln-Tora-und-Innenansicht-Synagoge-Glockengasse-040.JPG, An Ashkenazi Torah scroll rolled to the Decalogue file:Keneseth Eliyahoo Synagogue, Inte ...

is brought out of the ark (ark is approached from the right, and departed from the left). This has its origins in the

Temple in Jerusalem The Temple in Jerusalem, or alternatively the Holy Temple (; , ), refers to the two religious structures that served as the central places of worship for Israelites and Jews on the modern-day Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem. Accord ...

, where in order not to get in each other's way, the priests would walk around the altar anticlockwise while performing their duties. When entering the Beis Hamikdash the people would enter by one gate, and leave by another. The resulting direction of motion was anticlockwise. In Judaism, starting things from the right side is considered to be important, since the right side is the side of Chesed (kindness) while the left side is the side of Gevurah (judgment). For example, there is a Jewish

custom Custom, customary, or consuetudinary may refer to: Traditions, laws, and religion * Convention (norm), a set of agreed, stipulated or generally accepted rules, norms, standards or criteria, often taking the form of a custom * Mores, what is wid ...

recorded in the

Shulchan Aruch The ''Shulhan Arukh'' ( ),, often called "the Code of Jewish Law", is the most widely consulted of the various legal codes in Rabbinic Judaism. It was authored in the city of Safed in what is now Israel by Joseph Karo in 1563 and published in ...

to put on the right shoe first and take off the left shoe first, following the example of

Mar son of Ravina Mar son of Ravina (Aramaic: מר בריה דרבינא; ''Mar Breih deRavina'') was a Babylonian Jewish rabbi who lived around the late third century (fourth generation of Amoraim). He was not the son of Ravina I or Ravina II (both of whom lived ...

whom the

Talmud The Talmud (; ) is the central text of Rabbinic Judaism and the primary source of Jewish religious law (''halakha'') and Jewish theology. Until the advent of Haskalah#Effects, modernity, in nearly all Jewish communities, the Talmud was the cen ...

records as putting his shoes on in this way.Shabbat 61a The

Bön Bon or Bön (), also known as Yungdrung Bon (, ), is the indigenous Tibetan religion which shares many similarities and influences with Tibetan Buddhism.Samuel 2012, pp. 220–221. It initially developed in the tenth and eleventh centuries but ...

po in the

traditionally circumambulate (generally) in a counter-clockwise and 'widdershins' direction, that is to say, a direction that runs counter to the apparent movement of the

Sun The Sun is the star at the centre of the Solar System. It is a massive, nearly perfect sphere of hot plasma, heated to incandescence by nuclear fusion reactions in its core, radiating the energy from its surface mainly as visible light a ...

within the sky from the vantage of the ground. This runs counter to the prevalent directionality of

Buddhism Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

(in general) and orthodox

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Hypernymy and hyponymy, umbrella term for a range of Indian religions, Indian List of religions and spiritual traditions#Indian religions, religious and spiritual traditions (Sampradaya, ''sampradaya''s) that are unified ...

. This is in keeping with the aspect and directionality of the '

Sauvastika The swastika (卐 or 卍, ) is a symbol used in various Eurasian religions and cultures, as well as a few African and American cultures. In the Western world, it is widely recognized as a symbol of the German Nazi Party who appropriated it ...

' (Tibetan: ''yung-drung''), sacred to the Bönpo. In the Southern Hemisphere, the Bönpo practitioner is required to elect whether the directionality of 'counter-clockwise' (

deosil Sunwise, sunward or deasil (sometimes spelled ''deosil''), are terms meaning to go clockwise or in the direction of the sun, as seen from the Northern Hemisphere. The opposite term is ''widdershins'' (Middle Low German), or ''tuathal'' (Scottish ...

in the Southern Hemisphere) or running-counter to the direction of the Sun (widdershins in the Southern Hemisphere) is the key

intention An intention is a mental state in which a person commits themselves to a course of action. Having the plan to visit the zoo tomorrow is an example of an intention. The action plan is the ''content'' of the intention while the commitment is the ...

of the tradition. The resolution to this

conundrum Conundrum may refer to: * A riddle, whose answer is or involves a pun or unexpected twist, in particular ** Riddle joke, a riddle that constitutes a set-up to the humorous punch line of a joke * A logical postulation that evades resolution, an in ...

is left open to the practitioner, their 'intuitive insight' (Sanskrit: '' prajna'') and their tradition.

References

External links

*{{cite news , author=Camila Domonoske , title=Bolivia's De-Colonized 'Clock Of The South' Turns Widdershins , date=June 26, 2014 , publisher=

NPR National Public Radio (NPR) is an American public broadcasting organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., with its NPR West headquarters in Culver City, California. It serves as a national Radio syndication, syndicator to a network of more ...

, url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/26/325804334/bolivias-de-colonized-clock-of-the-south-turns-widdershins Scottish folklore Orientation (geometry) Tibet

Etymology

Superstition and religion

See also

References

External links