From time immemorial, water for people remains one of the most unusual elements. A lot of signs are associated with it, a lot of legends, myths and legends. For Russians, fire, earth and especially water have always been absolutely wondrous elements. They were convinced that the water came from a magical source. In Russian folklore, water is inextricably linked with life and death. So, according to legend, living water could heal a wounded body. The ancestors of modern South Americans, Africans and Europeans revered water no less, if not more than us. Myths and legends were different, but they all agreed on one thing - water was the meaning of existence, a deity. In many places of pagan worship, chapels and temples were even erected near the water, and sometimes the water bodies themselves became heroes of myths and legends.
1. Let's turn to Japanese mythology first. Everyone knows the history of the Great Flood described in the Bible. However, references to this "incident" are found in myths and legends of different peoples. According to the Japanese version, for example, the first ruler of Japan settled on the islands immediately after the water began to decrease.
2. And again about the Japanese: there is such a lake - Tazawa (or Tazawako) with a depth of 423 m. It is noteworthy that the lake does not freeze in winter, despite the cold, typical of the local winters. Many legends are associated with it, one of which says that a young and beautiful fisherman Hachirotaro once lived in these parts. One day he caught a strange fish in the river. The young guy was hungry and ate it. Suddenly he felt a terrible thirst. In an effort to satisfy her, he fell to the spring gushing out from under the stones and drank water from it for 32 days without a break. On the 33rd day, Hachirotaro turned into a dragon. The fisherman could no longer return to his home in this form. Therefore, he dammed the river, thus turning it into a deep lake suitable for a water dragon. So - according to legend - Lake Tazawa appeared.
3. There is also such a legend among the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun. According to Japanese mythology, the Dragon Ryujin is the god of the sea, the lord of the water element. According to legends, he lived at the bottom of the ocean off the coast of Japan, near the Ryukyu (Nansei) Islands. A single blow from Ryūjin's tail causes huge tidal waves that completely wash away coastal villages. When Ryūjin opens his huge toothy mouth and sighs, giant eddies appear in the water. The head of the noble dragon is crowned with antlers; a mustache indicates his wisdom; the eyes see deep down to the bottom of the ocean. As Ryūjin draws out the grisly claws, floods occur. With the movement of its paws, it can overturn several vessels.
4. Another myth is associated with it, but this time it is almost historical. Deciding to attack Korea, Empress Jingu asked Ryūjin for help. The dragon's messenger brought her two gems, ebb and flow. Jingu led the Japanese naval campaign in Korea. At sea, they were met by Korean warships. Jingu threw a casting stone into the water, and the Korean ships ran aground. When the Korean warriors jumped out of the ships to launch an attack on foot, Jingu threw a tidal stone on the seabed. All the water rushed back and drowned the enemies.
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5. The Japanese generally have a lot of myths and legends about water. And here's another one for you. The Japanese once believed in the Kappa water demons, who look like small, naked men with a turtle shell and a bowl filled with water in place of their heads. They scoured the water in search of the lost passenger and pulled him into the depths. There are only two ways to avoid them: the first is to write a name on a cucumber and throw it into the water. Cucumbers are very fond of kappa. The second way is to bow to demons. In this case, the demon has to bow in return and thereby empty his cup-head. Without water in their head, the Kappa are helpless.
6. Fast forward to South America - to Ancient Mexico. In their legends about the Flood it is said: "The sky approached the Earth, and in an instant all living things perished." They were sure that the mountains and rocks that we see now covered the entire earth, and the water boiled and boiled so that the mountains turned red. They were also convinced that the water had destroyed the unnecessary, ugly race of giants, and that all people had turned into fish, except for one couple hiding in the trees.
7. The red-skinned man generally believed that the globe inhabited by people was created from silt that rose from the pristine waters. In their myths there are bisexual creatures, known among the Aztecs as Ometecutli-Omecihuatl (lords of a dual nature). They were portrayed as deities dominating the emergence of all things, over the beginning of the world.
8. Around the same time, the most famous hero of the myths of the ancient southern Europeans is Neptune (Poseidon). It is with him that a lot of legends, legends and myths are associated. It was he who inspired everyone with great fear, because all the vibrations of the soil were attributed to Neptune (Poseidon), and when the earthquake began, sacrifices were made to the god Poseidon. It was enough for Poseidon to hit the ground with a trident for it to open and hesitate. Poseidon (Neptune) was recognized and revered as a mighty and strong god by all navigators and merchants who erected altars to him and turned to him with prayers so that the god Poseidon would grant their ships a happy journey without storms and patronize the success of their trade.
nine. One of the most famous myths is also associated with it. At the request of the hero Theseus, the god Poseidon summoned the monster that caused the death of Hippolytus, the son of Theseus and the queen of the Amazons. Gloomy by nature, Hippolytus liked nothing but hunting. He loudly expressed his contempt for women, never worshiped the goddess Aphrodite and brought all his sacrifices to the altar of the goddess Artemis. An angry Aphrodite decided to take revenge for such neglect. The goddess Aphrodite instilled in her stepmother Hippolytus Phaedra an insane love for Hippolytus. But Hippolytus turned away with disgust from his stepmother, who for this slandered Hippolytus in front of his father. Considering him guilty, Theseus called upon him the anger of the god Poseidon, and he ordered the sea monster to appear on the surface of the water, while Hippolytus approached the sea in a chariot. Horses frightened by the monster overturned the chariot, and Hippolytus died. Subsequently, this myth formed the basis of "Phaedra" and Rubens's painting "The Death of Hippolytus".
10. And at this time in Egypt water is endowed with life-giving ability - heavenly waters irrigate the earth, contributing to the maintenance of life on it. One of the myths tells that God sat on water, just like a bird sits on eggs, and hatched life. In Egyptian graphics, the triple hieroglyph of water symbolizes immense waters, i.e. the pristine ocean and primeval matter. The Vedas say that at the beginning of time everything was like a sea devoid of light. Water is compared to life-giving body fluids. In accordance with this concept, in ancient Egypt, water was added to a mummified body in order to replace the lost "life juices". The Nile was also given a divine image as the “breadwinner” of the people - without the floods of this river, life here would have been impossible.
11. Fast forward to Russia. There was a legend about Vodyanoy - the lord of the waters. According to legend, this is an evil spirit personifying the water element. He lives in the whirlpools of rivers, in pools or in swamps, he likes to settle under a water mill, near the wheel itself, which is why in the old days all millers were considered sorcerers. However, the aquatic also have their own houses, built of shells and semi-precious river stones. In its native element, water is irresistible, but on earth its strength weakens. He lures a person into the water and drowns him, is able to destroy dams, he can give fishermen a rich catch, or disperses all the fish and tears the nets. Therefore, millers and fishermen tried to appease him: they threw bread into the water or sacrificed some black animal (rooster, cat, dog), the fishermen released the first fish they caught back into the water.
12. The Slavs also had faith in Vodyanitsa - the wife of a water man, a former drowned woman. She was also called a joke, a joke. Vodyanitsa preferred forest and mill pools, but most of all she loved the hollows under the mills, where the swiftness muddies the water and washes out pits. Under the mill wheels, it was as if she usually gathered for the night with the water-maker. According to legend, she has a bad temper: when she splashes in the water and plays with the running waves or jumps on mill wheels and spins with them, tears the nets and spoils the millstones.
13. The Omsk region keeps the legend of the "Five Lakes", one of which is the famous Okunevo Lake. And the village near him was considered the energy center of the earth. The village itself is a place where paranormal activity periodically occurs. Someone saw a headless horseman here, others talk about a round dance of girls who came from nowhere on the river bank. The legend says that translucent figures of enormous height appeared and disappeared behind the girls' backs. There are five lakes around the village, which appeared when five meteorites fell. The water in each of the lakes is considered curative, the location of the fifth lake is still a mystery.
fourteen. The following legend has also survived: in the old days the mighty Baikal was cheerful and kind, he deeply loved his only daughter Angara. She was the most beautiful - everyone could not stop looking at her. Even the birds, although they descended below, never sat on it and said: "Is it possible to blacken the light?" Baikal took care of its daughter more than its heart. Once, when Baikal fell asleep, Angara rushed to run to the young man Yenisei. Baikal got angry and dropped the rock right on the throat of the Angara. Gasping for breath, she asked her father to forgive her and give her at least a drop of water. Baikal shouted: "I can only give my own tears!" Since then, for hundreds of years the Angara has been flowing into the Yenisei as a tear-like water, and the gray-haired lonely Baikal has become gloomy. The rock, which Baikal threw after its daughter, was called by people the Shaman stone. Rich sacrifices were made to Baikal there. People said: “Baikal will be angry, will tear off the Shaman stone,the water will rush and flood the whole earth."
15. But in the south, the legend of living and dead water was spread. She talked about an old man who survived many generations, but his appearance remained unchanged. And he possessed tremendous strength. Healers and spirits of different lands often turned to him for help, and sometimes even Mother Earth herself. The old man had the gift of endowing water with life-giving power, a drop of such water could bring back to life and relieve ailment, a sip could endow a person with the ability to see the truth of being and be happy, three sips opened a healing gift in a person, and a mug of such water brought a person the strength that they had only disembodied spirits. Realizing the value of this water, he distributed it carefully, for in the hands of an ignoramus a lot of misfortune could happen. However, a misfortune happened: a man came to him begging for help. His father was dying of a serious illness. The old man gave the man a glass vessel with water and told him to give water to his father once a day at dawn all week and forbade him to drink it himself, since it was not intended for him. But the man could not restrain himself and drank the water. He immediately saw an old man who was angry with him and demanded to return the water. But the man was filled with hatred. He carved a spear out of solid wood and went back to the cave. He came there and killed the elder. As soon as the spear pierced the old man's heart, his blood splattered on the man's eyes and cleared his mind and heart from black feelings and thoughts. The man fell to his knees, hugged the old man and cried out of remorse and love, as to his own father. And at this time his blood father received his sight and became healthy. The elder's gift passed to the man. But the man could not restrain himself and drank the water. He immediately saw an old man who was angry with him and demanded to return the water. But the man was filled with hatred. He carved a spear out of solid wood and went back to the cave. He came there and killed the elder. As soon as the spear pierced the old man's heart, his blood splattered on the man's eyes and cleared his mind and heart from black feelings and thoughts. The man fell to his knees, hugged the old man and cried out of remorse and love, as to his own father. And at this time his blood father received his sight and became healthy. The elder's gift passed to the man. But the man could not restrain himself and drank the water. He immediately saw an old man who was angry with him and demanded to return the water. But the man was filled with hatred. He carved a spear out of solid wood and went back to the cave. He came there and killed the elder. As soon as the spear pierced the old man's heart, his blood splattered on the man's eyes and cleared his mind and heart from black feelings and thoughts. The man fell to his knees, hugged the old man and cried out of remorse and love, as to his own father. And at this time his blood father received his sight and became healthy. The elder's gift passed to the man.his blood splattered on the man's eyes and cleared his mind and heart from black feelings and thoughts. The man fell to his knees, hugged the old man and cried out of remorse and love, as to his own father. And at this time his blood father received his sight and became healthy. The elder's gift passed to the man.his blood splattered on the man's eyes and cleared his mind and heart from black feelings and thoughts. The man fell to his knees, hugged the old man and cried out of remorse and love, as to his own father. And at this time his blood father received his sight and became healthy. The elder's gift passed to the man.
16. In Yakutia, local residents have long believed in the existence of the Labynkarsky feature - something of a dark gray color with a huge mouth. The distance between the eyes is equal to the width of a raft of ten logs. According to the legend, he is very aggressive and dangerous, attacks people and animals, and is able to go ashore.
