by
Christopher L. C. E. Witcombe
Water is a primordial element which underlay creation myths and stories
around the world. The Egyptian Heliopolitan creation story recounts that the
sun-god Atum (Re) reposed in the primordial ocean (Nun).
In Assyro-Babylonian mythology, first the gods and subsequently all beings
arose from the fusion of salt water (Tiamat) and sweet water
(Apsu). The holy books of the Hindus explain
that all the inhabitants of the earth emerged from the
primordial sea. |
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At
the beginning of the Judeo-Christian story of creation, the spirit of God is
described as stirring above the waters, and a few lines later, God creates a
firmament in the midst of the waters to divide the waters (Genesis 1:1-6).
In the Koran are the words We have created every living thing from water.
Water divinities of various kinds appear in the mythologies of many
cultures. And not surprisingly, the world abounds in sacred springs, rivers,
and lakes. Even within the Judeo-Christian tradition, which generally avoids
the veneration of the various phenomena of Nature, there are numerous
examples of sacred springs or wells, and rivers. In most cases, the spring
or river has acquired sacredness through connection with a significant or
miraculous event. The water of the River Jordan is sacred because Jesus
Christ was baptized in it by Saint John the Baptist. The spring at Lourdes
is sacred because of its healing properties in connection with the
appearance of the Virgin Mary to Bernadette. In some cases, such as
the holy well at Chartres, or the
Chalice Well at Glastonbury
were probably already sacred in pagan times.
While sacred in their own right, sacred springs also draw attention to the
sacredness of water itself, reminding the Christian, for example, that water
is a symbol of grace (and as such is used for baptism). Water is also one of
the four elements possessing fundamental characteristics. In the Canticle of
the Sun, St. Francis of Assisi praises God for water: Praised be Thou, O
Lord, for sister water, who is very useful, humble, precious, and chaste.
In many cultures, water appears as a reflection or an image of the soul. In
Japan, water prefigures the purity and pliant simplicity of life. It can be
both calm and animated, and the Japanese may contemplate the unruffled
surface of a temple pond or make pilgrimages to waterfalls. The lotus-stream
of the Buddha or Boddhisattva rises up from the
waters of the soul, in the same way the spirit, illumined by knowledge,
frees itself from passive existence.
In India, the sacred River Ganges embodies for Hindus the
water of life. Bathing in the Ganges frees the bather from sin, the outward
purification serving as symbolic support of inward purification. The source
of the Ganges lies in the Himalayas, the mountains of the Gods, and descends
to the plains of India as if from Heaven.
The identification of the sources of rivers, streams, springs, and wells as
sacred is very ancient. Springs and wells were perceived as the dwelling
place of supernatural beings, and stories and legends grew up around them.
Often it was claimed that the waters healed the injured or cured the sick
with the result that well or stream came to be regarded as a sacred shrine.
The Roman philosopher Seneca declared that Where a spring rises or
a water flows there ought we to build altars and offer sacrifices. This
was frequently undertaken.
In some cases wells or streams were oracular. Pausanias (VII, 21. 11)
reports that a sacred stream in front of the
sanctuary of Demeter
at Patras served as an infallible mode of divination using a mirror. Wells
and springs inhabited by spirits with the gift of prophecy were places of
pilgrimage. The Celts venerated natural springs of water
for their sacred and medicinal value and many examples of holy wells are
known, many of them were later Christianized through rededication to a
saint. This practice of venerating sacred wells continued into the Christian
era in the West, though they were now referred to as wishing wells.
Springs and wells also took the form of sacred fountains which were claimed
to be the Fountain of Youth, or the Fountain of Immortality,
or the Well of Knowledge. A Fountain of Youth was believed to exist in the
newly-discovered Americas, and the Spanish conquistador Ponce de Léon
set out in 1513 on an expedition to find it in Florida. In China, the water
of the fountain at Pon Lai was believed to confer a thousand
lives on those who drink it, according to Wang Chia, writing in the
Chin Dynasty (265-420 AD), and a similar reputation was attached to the springs of Mount Lao Shan.
Wells and springs were often associated with a god or goddess and the sacred
water dispensed there could ensure life, health, and abundance. The
Babylonian moon goddess, Ishtar, was associated with sacred
springs, and her temples were often situated in natural grottoes from which
springs emanated. Sacred springs were enshrined by the Ancient Greeks who
erected artificial basins and placed icons of the deity or deities nearby.
Goddesses and nymphs were connected with certain rivers, springs, and wells
by the Celts and Romans. Often the river was named after the goddess, such
as the Shannon River, after Sinann, and the Boyne, after Boann, in Ireland,
and the Seine, after Sequana, in Gaul (France). In 1963, at the
Gallo-Roman Fontes Sequanae sanctuary at the source of the Seine,
200 wooden figures were excavated carved from the heart wood of oak to
represent all or part of the human body (heads, limbs, trunks; with internal
organs carved in relief on wooden plaques). These ex votos indicate
that the goddess of the sacred spring was believed capable of curing a whole
range of infirmities.
A special sacred significance was attached to springs and wells whose waters
could heal. In the New Testament, St. John (5:2) describes the pool of
Bethesda in Jerusalem, surrounded by five covered colonnades, where
a great number of disabled people used to lie -- the blind, the lame, the
paralyzed waiting to be the first to enter the pool when the water is
stirred. When in the mid-19th century soon after Bernadette's vision
of the Virgin Mary, the water issuing from
the grotto at Lourdes
began to bring about cures in people, the spring was designated a place of
miracles.
From these underground sources also bubbled forth mineral water which could
be imbibed or bathed in to effect cures. Later, these springs became baths
and spas. The hot (120 degree Fahrenheit / 46.5 degrees Celsius)
mineral springs at Bath in England were already being used 7000
years ago. The Celts subsequently established a shrine there dedicated to Sulis, and later the Romans built on the same spot a temple to Sulis Minerva (and renamed the town Aquae Sulis).
The Romans also developed other mineral springs. In Germany the waters at Aquae Aureliae became the famous spa of Baden-Baden (bath
bath). In 218 CE, after defeating the Romans, Hannibal and his armies
stopped to imbibe the waters at Perrier in the south of France. The water at
Evians-les-Bains, on the southern side of Lake Geneva, was
discovered in ancient times; in 363 CE, the Roman emperor Flavius
Claudius Jovianus stopped there on his way to Germany. The natural
spring waters at Evians-les-Bains are marketed today as Evian. The
waters at San Pellegrino in Lombardy in northern Italy have been
known since Roman times. Rediscovered in the 12th century, one of the famous
pilgrims (pellegrino means pilgrim) who came to take the waters there
was Leonardo da Vinci.
The spa was established there in 1848, and
bottling of the water begun in 1899.
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