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((short description|Term in English for counter-clockwise))
((Other uses))

((Refimprove|date=June 2016))
[[File:Counterclockwise arrow.svg|thumb|right|The anticlockwise or counterclockwise direction]]
'''Widdershins''' (sometimes '''withershins''', '''widershins''' or '''widderschynnes''') is a term meaning to go counter-clockwise, anti-clockwise, or lefthandwise, or to walk around an object by always keeping it on the left. Literally, it means to take a course opposite the apparent motion of the sun viewed from the [[Northern Hemisphere]] (the face of this imaginary clock is the ground the viewer stands upon).<ref name="DCM">((cite book |last=Ellis |first=Peter |title=Dictionary of Celtic Mythology |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |location=USA |date=1994-06-23 |isbn=978-0-19-508961-5))</ref> The earliest recorded use of the word, as cited by the ''[[Oxford English Dictionary]]'', is in a 1513 translation of the ''[[Aeneid]]'', where it is found in the phrase "Abaisit I wolx, and widdersyns start my hair." In this sense, "widdershins start my hair" means "my hair stood on end".<ref name=":0">((cite dictionary |title=withershins ((!)) widdershins, adv. |date=June 2017 |publisher=Oxford University Press |url=http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/229655 |access-date=6 September 2017 |encyclopedia=[[OED Online]]))</ref>

The use of the word also means "in a direction opposite to the usual" and "in a direction contrary to the apparent course of the sun". It is [[cognate]] with the [[German language]] ''widersinnig'', i.e., "against" + "sense". The term "widdershins" was especially common in [[Scots language|Lowland Scots]].<ref name=":0" />

The opposite of widdershins is [[sunwise|''deosil'', or ''sunwise'']], meaning "clockwise".

==Etymology==
Widdershins comes from Middle Low German ''weddersinnes'', literally "against the way" (i.e. "in the opposite direction"), from ''widersinnen'' "to go against", from Old High German elements ''widar'' "against" and ''sinnen'' "to travel, go", related to ''sind'' "journey".<ref name="Widdershins - Etymonline.com">((cite dictionary |title=widdershins |url=http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=widdershins |publisher=Online Etymology Dictionary |access-date=23 September 2016))</ref><ref name="Widdershins - Merriam-Webster">((cite dictionary |title=widdershins |url=http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/widdershins |publisher=Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary |access-date=23 September 2016))</ref>

==Superstition and religion==
Because the sun played a highly important role in older religions, to go against it was considered bad luck for sun-worshiping traditions.

It was considered unlucky in [[Sub-Roman Britain|Britain]] to travel in an [[anticlockwise]] (not [[sunwise]]) direction around a [[church (building)|church]], and a number of folk myths make reference to this [[superstition]]; for example, in the fairy tale [[Childe Rowland]], the protagonist and his sister are transported to [[Elfland]] after the sister runs widdershins round a church. There is also a reference to this in [[Dorothy Sayers]]'s novels ''[[The Nine Tailors]]'' (chapter entitled The Second Course; "He turned to his right, knowing that it is unlucky to walk about a church widdershins&nbsp;...") and ''[[Clouds of Witness]]'' ("True, O King, and as this isn't a church, there's no harm in going round it widdershins").  In [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s tale "The Song of the Morrow," an old crone on the beach dances "widdershins".<ref>((cite book |author=Robert Louis Stevenson |chapter=The Song of the Morrow |title=Fables |url=http://www.authorama.com/fables-19.html))</ref>

In the [[Eastern Orthodox Church]], however, it is normal for processions around a church to go widdershins.((citation needed|date=June 2016))

In [[Judaism]] circles are also sometimes walked anticlockwise. For example, when a bride circles her groom seven times before marriage, when dancing around the [[Bema#Judaism|bimah]] during [[Simchat Torah]] (or when dancing in a circle at any time), or when the [[Sefer Torah]] is brought out of the [[Torah ark|ark]] (ark is approached from the right, and departed from the left). This has its origins in the [[Beis Hamikdash]], where in order not to get in each other's way, the priests would walk around the altar anticlockwise while performing their duties. When entering the Beis Hamikdash the people would enter by one gate, and leave by another.((citation needed|date=June 2016)) The resulting direction of motion was anticlockwise. In Judaism, starting things from the right side is considered to be important, since the right side is the side of Chesed (kindness) while the left side is the side of Gevurah (judgment).((citation needed|date=August 2023)) For example, there is a Jewish [[Minhag|custom]] recorded in the [[Shulchan Aruch]] to put on the right shoe first and take off the left shoe first,<ref>Orach Chayim 2:4</ref> following the example of [[Mar son of Ravina]] whom the [[Talmud]] records as putting his shoes on in this way.<ref>Shabbat 61a</ref>

The [[Bön]]po in the [[Northern Hemisphere]] traditionally circumambulate (generally) in a counter-clockwise and 'widdershins' direction, that is to say, a direction that runs counter to the apparent movement of the [[Sun]] within the sky from the vantage of the ground. This runs counter to the prevalent directionality of [[Buddhism]] (in general) and orthodox [[Hinduism]]. This is in keeping with the aspect and directionality of the '[[Sauvastika]]' (Tibetan: ''yung-drung''), sacred to the Bönpo. In the [[Southern Hemisphere]], the Bönpo practitioner is required to elect whether the directionality of 'counter-clockwise' ([[deosil]] in the Southern Hemisphere) or running-counter to the direction of the Sun (widdershins in the Southern Hemisphere) is the key [[intention]] of the tradition. The resolution to this [[wikt:conundrum|conundrum]] is left open to the practitioner, their 'intuitive insight' (Sanskrit: ''[[Wisdom in Buddhism|prajna]]'') and their tradition.((citation needed|date=June 2016))

==See also==
*[[Circumambulation]]
*[[Sunwise]] (Deosil)
*[[Clockwise]]

==References==
((Reflist))

==External links==
((wiktionary))
*((cite news |author=Camila Domonoske |title=Bolivia's De-Colonized 'Clock Of The South' Turns Widdershins |date=June 26, 2014 |publisher=[[NPR]] |url=https://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/26/325804334/bolivias-de-colonized-clock-of-the-south-turns-widdershins))

[[Category:Scottish folklore]]
[[Category:Orientation (geometry)]]
[[Category:Tibet]]

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