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Daisy Wheel, Hexfoil, Hexafoil, Rosette
Protective Marks in Gravestone Art
Robyn S. Lacy
240 pages, 18 ills., bibliog., index
ISBN 978-1-80539-663-5 $135.00/£99.00 / Hb / Not Yet Published (September 2024)
eISBN 978-1-80539-667-3 eBook Not Yet Published
Description
The use of protective symbols, also known as apotropaic marks, are often part of folk magic traditions, appearing in homes, churches, on personal items, and even graves, across Europe, Australia, and North America. The most common and well-known of these marks is the hexfoil, otherwise known as the daisy wheel, witch hex, or rosette. Hexfoils have a history of use for personal protection and were carved both intentionally or graffitied into church pews and walls, bed frames, doors, and gravestones. This research sheds light on the use of this historic symbol to protect the bodies and souls of the deceased, across several thousand years and multiple countries.
Robyn S. Lacy is a PhD Candidate in Archaeology at Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador. She runs a historic gravestone preservation business with her husband in Newfoundland which takes them all across the island and beyond. Her first book Burial and Death in Colonial North America was published in 2020, and she regularly writes about her research on her website, spadeandthegrave.com.
