ABSTRACT
Irreplaceable resources of archaeological, historical, spiritual and community significance, holy wells also serve as conservation patches for particular species of trees, plants and animals. Curative folk liturgies have developed in response to the unique arrangements of the natural and built features in each well’s landscape setting. Holy wells and their immediate landscape contexts are ecosystems in themselves; otherwise, rare flora and fauna flourish in these often sheltered sites. The healing properties of flora thriving near wells are linked to the cures with which wells are “blessed.” Holy wells are nodes of both cultural heritage and biological diversity. Considering the relationship between therapeutic wells and their associated flora and fauna, this chapter presents holy wells as sites of biocultural diversity (where culture and biology are interrelated and even co-evolved). Understanding generationally layered local ecological knowledge and cultural values that designate water sources as sacred is valuable for strategizing socioecological resilience in the face of predicted water crises.
