Any researcher who decides to subject the mythology of the peoples of the world to a thorough analysis in order to discover the most mystical structure will be extremely surprised. Indeed, as a result, it will suddenly become clear that the most mysterious in human civilization will be … an ordinary well.
It is with the well, natural or man-made, that most of the mysterious legends and dark traditions are associated. But what to go far, it is enough to remember Russian fairy tales. However, in real life, stories related to wells rarely have a happy ending …
Legends about well water
The well-known Russian ethnographer-Slavicist A. A. Tyunyaev, who had been studying the life of the ancient Slavs for many years, claims in his works that in Russia from time immemorial there was a mysterious tradition of building in the villages not one, but two public wells at once. The first of them was located in the center of the village, the second - outside the outskirts at the edge of the forest. It was believed that in this way the villagers agreed on peaceful coexistence with the mysterious owners of the forest.
Moreover, water for domestic needs was taken in a well located in the center of the village, and only in extreme cases - in a well belonging to the spirits of the forest. Often in the villages you can hear the legend that the well is a kind of portal to the underground, otherworldly or parallel world. At the same time, pilgrims who traveled to monasteries in Russia believed that one could talk with well water and even see what was going on in it.
Often, stopping at this or that well, they looked at the water for a long time, and then, having replenished the supplies, left some thing near the reservoir, believing that an unusual ritual would allow them to get to the next well on their way safe and sound.
It is difficult to say in which area the origins of the popular in Russia tradition lie before going to war to sprinkle weapons with water from the well of their native village. Nevertheless, it is still believed that weapons consecrated in this way will be several times better to strike the enemy. On the other hand, at the moment when the village was to be occupied by the enemy, the valuable things that were in the village were hidden at the bottom of the well. Wells in abandoned villages are still very popular with treasure hunters.
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THE GATE OF ANOTHER WORLD
It would be a mistake to think that only the Slavic tribes considered the well water to be healing, and the well itself as the front gate of another world. For example, in the Celtic epic, the ancient peoples inhabiting the British Isles had their own cult of sacred wells, elements of which have survived to this day.
Irish well Brigit. Two granite stones with hollows under the arch are called "Brigid's boots" or her "cows". A stream of water from the well passes through these stones.
Most Celtic wells are springs laid out in a circle with natural boulders. In the event that the well is still revered today, you can see in the trees around it
multi-colored ribbons and just scraps of fabric tied to make a wish come true. Such wells even received an ironic nickname - "patchwork wells".
Those wells to which a pin was left as a gift, sticking it into the bark of a tree standing nearby, are called "pin". In pre-Christian times, people came to such reservoirs in order to be cured of an illness or to find out the future. The belief in the unusual abilities of well water was so great that the Christian priests who came to these places were forced to wage a long war with the wells. The war was lost, and the pagan wells were "subordinated" to the Christian saints. Wells are also distinguished by their healing abilities.
For example, those are extremely popular, the water from which allows women to become pregnant. The most famous of these is the Kid's well located in Oxford. Like Russian wells, the reservoirs of modern Great Britain hide many treasures. At their bottom, weapons, household items, thousands of gold coins and, of course, skeletons are found.
DREAM IN HAND
The most famous in England is St. Madron's Well. It is a small spring with greenish water, surrounded by oval cobblestones. It is believed that every person who sleeps through the night or at least a few hours on Madron's bed - a special large boulder near the well - will certainly see his own future in a dream and will be healed of the diseases that torment him.
It is interesting to note that even in the ancient world such "sleepy" ways of communicating with wells and healing springs were widespread. Even the priests recorded miraculous healings in a dream near the well of Saint Madron.
British scientists, interested in the phenomenon of wells, near which a person really gets sleepy, found that most of them have an increased background radiation. Perhaps it is this factor that causes prophetic dreams and accelerated healing from wounds and diseases.
Celtic mythology has its own explanation for the unusual abilities of well waters. The Celts believed that all the wells of their land flowed from a single source in another world. In it, they unite with the waters of a single Well of Wisdom. It is not surprising that the ancient Celts, and then the peoples who inhabited the British Isles, asked the wells for knowledge and wisdom of another world. There was even a special rite: in order to establish a connection with the creatures of the other world, it was necessary to drink well water from a bowl made of a human skull. And they drank!
WELL SECRETS
Since ancient times, the Slavs have had an extensive list of rules and taboos that must be observed while visiting the well:
You can not collect and drink water from a well on St. prayer services, walked around it with an icon and bread and salt, sometimes they even pounded the water in the well with sticks. The Slavs believed that evil spirits bathe in the well at night, and spirits of various diseases live near it. The well itself, in their opinion, is inhabited by a well, water or mermaid. The well is a place of connection with the other world. Our ancestors believed that at dawn in the well water you can see your dead relatives and talk to them. Using the well as a window to the other world, the Slavs fed their ancestors and evil spirits and asked them for help in business.good health and good luck. During the wedding, the morning after the wedding night, in Russia and Belarus, the bride was sent to fetch water to the well. Approaching the source, the woman had to leave a piece of wedding cake, cheese and some money near it. It was believed that by this ritual, the bride joins her husband's family, getting to know his deceased ancestors.
WITCH'S WELL
It is known all over the world that the most powerful sorcerers live in the north of Europe. Here is the most amazing well, created, as they say, by evil spirits, located on the territory of the former USSR, in Estonia. Locals in all seriousness claim that in the village of Tuhala witches, sorcerers, watermen, goblin and other evil spirits gather for their Sabbath. After the official part, they go to steam in the underground baths. At this moment, the water in the well boils and splashes out in a seething stream.
The most amazing thing is that such a phenomenon is indeed observed several times a year not only by locals, but also by numerous tourists. What is the matter and what kind of devils are soaring in the underground baths, scientists were able to explain. It turns out that under the village of Tuhala there are several karst voids.
So, when water under pressure comes out of the voids, it begins to boil. It is not surprising that the devils' “bath day” usually occurs during spring floods. As a rule, the well is poured out once or twice a year, and in 1981, it was bubbling six times!
NINE CIRCLES OF HELL
The influence of the wells on the consciousness of mystically minded people turned out to be so great that even the famous Masons decided to create a special well for conducting their rituals. This unusual structure in the form of an inverted tower is located in Portugal in the municipality of Sintra. A man-made well is located in the palace and park complex of Quinta da Regaleira. In 1892, Carvalho Monteiro, one of the richest collectors and patrons of art of the late 19th century, bought the estate for 25,000 reais.
With his money, in 1904, construction began on a gloomy Gothic palace and a large-scale reconstruction of the garden. Like any rich and independent person, Monteiro, being a member of the Masonic lodge and professing very specific philosophical views, ordered to arrange the space of the estate in a strictly symbolic Masonic style.
This is how the famous well of Initiation appeared inside the palace, in which, according to legend, the Freemasons performed their rituals. The design of the well of Dedication is very interesting. A spiral gallery, decorated with numerous arched openings, descends underground to a depth of 27 meters. Today the staircase is covered with moss in places, somewhere it is cracked, which gives it a unique mysterious charm. Going down along the gallery, it consists of nine spans with 15 steps each.
According to the owner's idea, each flight symbolizes one of the nine circles of hell, as well as purgatory and paradise, described in the immortal work of Dante. The bottom of the well is decorated with the coat of arms of Monteiro itself - an eight-pointed star, into which the Templar cross is inscribed. The palace turned out to be so picturesque that in 1995 it entered the UNESCO World Heritage List, and since 1998 it has become accessible to tourists.
THE WELL OF GOD
Sometimes wells are understood as natural formations, the creation of which is attributed to … the gods. One of the most famous divine wells is the legendary Thor well. The same god of thunder from Scandinavian mythology, blockbusters about whose adventures are the leaders of the world film distribution today. In the United States, at Cape Perpetua, Oregon, there is a unique well named after Thor.
As the legend says, once on the coastal strip on the local rocks, two lovers met. But once the girl was so jealous of her beloved that in a rage she killed him with a sharp knife blow right in the heart. Watching from heaven the denouement of the love drama, Thor turned the young man's blood into red-hot lava, which burned a hole in the ground and went into it. Since then, not far from the coast, among the sharp stones, a hole with a diameter of 5 meters gapes.
At high tide, water fills this well and then throws up a column of water up to 6 meters high. Those who have watched this spectacle with their own eyes claim that it is simply impossible to forget it. Photographers from all over the world travel to Cape Perpetua to capture the beautiful and violent Thor Well.
A STEP INTO ABOUT
No less surprising is another well, also located in the United States, in Texas - Jacob's Well. In some sources it is called the Step into the Abyss because of the unhealthy love of divers from all over the world to tempt fate by plunging into its bowels. Externally, the reservoir is an underwater cave with a diameter of 4 meters, connected with a large number of underwater tunnels, only some of which lead out.
Reckless scuba divers plunge into Jacob's well to a depth of several tens of meters, then to get out through the underwater grottoes. True, not everyone succeeds in returning to land. The list of victims of the well is quite impressive, but this does not frighten off more and more daredevils who want to try their luck.
CHAMPION IN THE WORLD
But the history of the Indian well Chand Baori even got on the pages of the Guinness Book of Records. This well is so amazing that it holds the record for several nominations at once. First, even in the driest years, it always has water.
Secondly, Chand Baori is the deepest of man-made wells. Thirdly, according to legend, it was dug in just one night by a ghost invited from the other world by a local sorcerer. Although, in fact, the construction of the well took more than one year.
Chand Baori is located within the Harshat Mata temple - the Indian goddess of joy and happiness. The only disadvantage is the practical use of the well, built in the form of an inverted tetrahedral pyramid. In order to get water, you have to go down to the water to a depth of more than 30 meters (six-story building) along slippery stone steps, bypassing 13 tiers-ledges located along the walls of the pyramid.
Dmitry TUMANOV