Gee Cross will celebrate the return of another popular village event this Sunday (10 July).
Following on from last weekend’s fete, the Gee Cross Community Well Dressing will take place from 2pm at the Grapes Hotel.
Everyone is invited to join in a procession and blessing of the decorated wells around the village, followed by a service and refreshments in Hyde Chapel.
A centuries’ old tradition, well dressing grew out of a pagan custom of making sacrifice to the gods of wells and springs to ensure a continuous fresh water supply.
It was later adopted by the Christian Church to give thanks to God for the gift of water.
Although usually associated with Derbyshire, well dressings have long been held in a few places outside the county including Gee Cross, where ceremonies regularly took place from the 1820s until about 1878.
Gee Cross and District WI decided to revive the tradition in 2000 to celebrate the new millennium and since then it has been an annual fixture.
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