Folklore of Wells: Being a Study of Water-Worship in East and West — John Shaqi
Folklore of Wells: Being a Study of Water-Worship in East and WestMasani, Rustom Pestonji
Religion
Folklore of Wells: Being a Study of Water-Worship in East and West
Masani, Rustom Pestonji
Holy wells; Water -- Folklore; Water -- Religious aspects
Before the well of Nowroji Wadia’s house was unwittingly defiled, the
presiding fairies of the well used to sing and play in it, but this
entertainment ceased after the place had been polluted. Another well,
famous for the concerts of the nymphs, was a well belonging to the Baxter
family in Bhattiawad. There, too, the water damsels regaled the ears of
the inmates with music. I say this on the authority of an old lady who
used to enjoy those subterranean melodies.
There is a fountain called “the pure one,” in Egypt. If anyone that is
impure through pollution or menstruation touches the water, it begins at
once to stink, and does not cease until one pours out the water of the
fountain and cleans it. Then only it regains its fine smell.
Akin to this tradition is the Esthonian belief concerning the sanctity
of water. In Esthonia there is a stream Wohhanda which has long been
the object of reverence. No Esthonian would fell any tree that grew on
its banks or break any reed that fringed its watercourse. If he did, he
would die within the year. The brook was purified periodically and it was
believed that if dirt was thrown into it, bad weather would follow. The
river-god resident in the stream was in the habit of occasionally rising
out of it and those who saw him described him as a little man in blue and
yellow stockings. Like other river wraiths, whom we shall accost later,
this water-sprite also demanded human sacrifices, and tradition records
offerings of little children made to Wohhanda.[7] When a German landowner
ventured to build a mill and dishonour the water, bad seasons followed
year after year, and the country-people burned down the abominable thing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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