The Mutability of Meaning

Abstract

While the previous chapter explored how people participate in the coin-tree custom, Chapter 5, ‘The Mutability of Meaning’, examines why they participate, questioning what the purpose of implanting a coin into a tree is believed to be by contemporary participants. It is quickly established that there is no single interpretation of the custom but a myriad, from healing to wish making, and this chapter considers the mutability and malleability of ‘meaning’. Both literary sources and interview material reveal not only a change in why the custom is observed over time, from the 1700s to the present, from religion to recreation, but also diversity in people’s interpretations today. This depends upon a number of factors ranging from where the coin-tree is geographically located to the kind of people who encounter it, demonstrating that meanings are as diverse as the participants themselves.