Also variously spelled widershins and widderschynnes, this Lowland Scots dialect word term derived from German means counter-clockwise, literally “against the way”, not only on a clock face, but originally against the perceived motion of the sun in the northern hemisphere. The German equivalent is widersinnig, meaning "against" and "sense", and earlier the Middle Low German weddersinnes, literally meaning against the way and widersinnen "to go against", as well as from Old High German elements widar "against" and sinnen "to travel, go", related to sind meaning journey. In the evolution of the English language the first known use comes in a 1513 translation of Homer’s Aeneid - “Abaisit I wolx, and widdersyns start my hair”, meaning “my hair stood on end”, ie against the normal way.
Counter-clockwise direction has various associations, ancient beliefs and is linked superstitions. In Robert Louis Stevenson's tale, The Song of the Morrow, an old crone is described on the beach dancing “widdershins”. And in Dorothy Sayers's novels The Nine Tailors (in the chapter entitled The Second Course - "He turned to his right, knowing that it is unlucky to walk about a church widdershins ...".
Newgrange kerbstone in County Meath, Ireland
The counter-clockwise spiral is a recurring pattern in Ancient Celtic culture with many potential meanings, seen on the Newgrange kerbstone, the World Heritage site, in County Meath in Ireland, located on a rise overlooking the River Boyne, west of the town of Drogheda. This grand passage tomb was built during the Neolithic Period, around 3200 BC, making it older than Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. Such patterns are often seen in traditional Celtic jewellery, with various interpreted meaning, perhaps pertaining a continuous cycle of life and death, or an alternative otherworld associated with faeries. Depending on how you look at it, the spiral could change direction and move clockwise, but its ambiguity and fluidity is also part of the magic.
Spirals, in either direction are of course recurring throughout nature, whether in the spirals of galaxies to growth patterns of plants. Here’s a kiwi fruit-inspired animation:
Counter-clockwise also has positive associations religious practice . In the Eastern Orthodox Church, whether in the northern or southern hemispheres, or in the Oriental Orthodox Churches it is normal for processions around a church to travel in an anticlockwise direction. In Judaism ceremonious 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, or when dancing in a circle at any time).
But how is widdershins, ie anti- or counter-clockwise expressed in song? Here’s some intricate, evocative, mesmeric, Bert Jansch-inspired folk guitar finger-picking and the title track of the debut solo full-length from the editor-in-chief of Guitarist magazine, Jamie Dickson, using this very title:
And more guitar work, reaching into the dark, English folk with echoes of metal by Wolcensmen, the project of Dan Capp, here’s the opening track of his debut album Songs From The Fyrgen:
Upping the pace, and changing the spelling, here’s some anti-clockwise stirring pagan rock from the Toronto band Blood Ceremony, who with heavy riffs and ripples of flutes, “while walking widdershins”, from their album The Old Ways Remain:
And finally, circling back to the Irish connection, some intricate violin work by Dublin’s Caoimhín Ó Raghallaigh, who plays the 10-string fiddle called the hardanger d'amore, and can be heard here on a duet, with Dan Trueman:
So then, what stirs in your musical mind when you think of withershins or widdershins?
A widdershins optical gif
There’s many other directions to explore, but this week, they are all counterclockwise. Feel free to share anything more in relation to anything whether in music or wider culture, such as from film, art, or other contexts, in comments below.
You can also get in touch the contact page, and also visit us on social media: Song Bar Twitter, Song Bar Facebook. Song Bar YouTube. and Song Bar Instagram. Please subscribe, follow and share. New to comment? It is quick and easy. You just need to login to Disqus once. All is explained in About/FAQs ...
Song Bar is non-profit and is simply about sharing great music. We don’t do clickbait or advertisements. Please make any donation to help keep the Bar running: