Had just made a joke about this and it got me wondering: is this a dick move? Is it even legal? Nobody truly believes their wish will come true, right? That’s just free money sitting in the water. Or would most people these days consider them to be donations? I can only assume that someone has to clean them out every now and then so as not to become totally filled with coins. Who would keep it? The city? The private institution that owns the fountain (if in some corporate lobby area or something)? Is it donated to charity?
Secondary question: Is this even a tradition outside the US? How common around the world is throwing coins into wells or fountains and making a wish?
Whoever owns the fountains owns the money.
If someone throws money into a fountain and then wishes then that in itself is a complete transaction with whichever supernatural entity is being bargained with.
I am assuming that any entity which is powerful enough to grant wishes is also powerful enough to hang onto the money if that should be its wish.
Alternatively it’s a quaint custom that people engage in as a form of custom and the pleasure comes with a link to the tradition.
The periodic clearing out of the fountains is both necessary maintenance and a form of income that pays for said maintenance. No one is really harmed by this.
It’s a ritual sacrifice, so the important thing is that the person parted with the money. It’s not that important if the deity gets it, or who gets it.
Precisely. 🙂