And he had thought the Sheela na Gig was a purely Irish aberration! Yet there he was, asking himself what was the French for Sheela, or the Spanish, or, in this case, possibly the Catalan language version. For he was inspecting the capitals of pillars in the cloisters of the Monastery of St Michel de Cuxa, not far from the town of Prades in south western France. There he saw carvings of "naked females posed in a manner - which displays and emphasises the genitalia as Eamonn P. Kelly defines these figures in his recent book entitled simply Sheela na Gigs.
The question as to the name equivalent was foolish, for Sheela, in this case, comes - most likely from the Irish Sighle na gCioch, meaning "the old hag of the breasts" or Sighle ina Giob, meaning an "old woman on her hunkers". The author tells us that sheela na gigs were first brought to scientific attention in the 1840s by antiquarians, "some of whom regarded their aggressive sexuality in negative terms." But Eamonn Kelly believes that "more recently the images have come to be regarded in a positive light." By some they are seen as a symbol of active female power.
We don't know the origin or function of sheela na gigs but the author remarks that comparison with similar figures in Britain and the Continent proves helpful. It is understood that many examples are found in northern Spain and in south western France - as in St Michel de Coxa. But they have also been discovered in Norway and Sweden. Further, we learn that in Europe, particularly along pilgrimage routes, carved stonework on churches developed a range of exhibitionist figures, male and female, whose function was to alert the faithful to the dangers of the sin of lust."
The Church's teaching was that sinners were punished in hell through the bodily organs by which they had offended. Later, in Ireland, their primary function on churches appears to have been as invocations against lust, and, when, in the Middle Ages, figures began to be placed on secular buildings, they came to be regarded as protective icons!
This book of less than 50 pages, contains a great deal of learning and many illustrations, Country House, Dublin, in association with The National Museum of Ireland, £4.99.