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- Report n°5 : "Water : symbolism and culture"
Report n°5 : "Water : symbolism and culture"
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Table of contents
- Conclusion
Conclusion
Water is fundamental and simple; for the ancient Greeks, it was one of the four components of the Universe and the notion continued to be widespread throughout the pre-scientific era.
Water is the image of time flowing.China invented impressive hydraulic timepieces.
Water also represents the Chaos of the origins of time and announces resurrection and spiritual renewal.
Its symbolism is ambivalent:water is linked to both life and death (beneficent rainfall, drought, floods).Water is the Styx that Greek souls crossed with Charon the boatman, but also the delightful Khawthar (nectar) of the Muslim paradise... Water is home to the gods, the naiads and the elves but is also "the sightless ocean" that engulfs shipwrecked sailors in Victor Hugo's "nights of darkness".
In many cosmogonies (Sumer, ancient Egypt and Greece), Earth is surrounded by water and floats or is immerged in a primordial liquid substance. In Chinese cosmogony, water is a pledge of the spiritual dimensions of beings and emerges as the mystery of the universe by transfiguration as is illustrated by the action of Qu Yuan, "the first poet" of the Middle Kingdom, who threw himself into the river Milo to renew the alliance of Heaven and Earth.
And withoutwater, Earth is sterile, said the Indian Shatapatha Brahmana.
Water presided over the creation of a multitude of civilisations, most of which gave it pride of place in their symbolism.
For the great African historian, Joseph Ki-Zerbo, water served the birth of writing, arithmetic and geometry -and even computation because once the Nile floods had erased all the markers, and the river returned to its bed, there was a need to find one's way along the banks and forecast the river's meanderings. A remarkable coincidence noted by Egyptian astronomers was that every year, on July 19, the day of the first "waters of renewal", that is the beginning of flooding, the star Sothis (Sirius or the Dog Star), incarnation of Isis the goddess, rose in the sky at the same time as the sun. How could there be any doubt of the river's divinity?
The Chinese venerate and fear water.Their land is of course subject to both drought and flooding.They even deified Li Bing, governor of Sichuan province around 250 BC, who constructed the first dam on the river Minjiang, a tributary of the Yangtze.
In almost every culture, water was endowed with spirituality. It was considered sacred by prehistoric man as demonstrated by anthropological and archaeological research on the cult of springs -healing or thermal - and waterways.
The pantheon of ancient Greece also gave great prominence to the gods associated with water. Reverence for the sacredness of water is still much in the foreground for many communities as their rites and customs demonstrate, establishing a form of "ecological" management of the resource, as illustrated by the Mali Dogon for example.
Water is also a part of many initiatory ceremonies for the Hopi of the New World just as it is also for communities in black Africa or Oceania.
The three major monotheist religions, like many other faiths, onsider that the purity of water is transmitted to man and cleanses him of contamination through the ablutions that are required of the faithful to "present themselves before Allah" (in other words, pray) either praying five times a day as must the Muslims, or through aspersion with water in the Christian baptism or again the ritual purification of women after giving birth in Jewish religious practices. The message could not be clearer: it is essential to preserve that purity, to make use of water with discernment and share it equitably.
The immense kaleidoscope of all the aspects of water are such that this element becomes a unique geometric space, bringing together religion, philosophy, poetry, music, painting and science (from the famous bath of Archimedes to the amazing properties of water that nanotechnology reveals today).
An examination of the Qur'an reveals the universal respect that is granted to water, a respect which dictates how men must behave as regards this vital element, the rules for its use, how it must be shared and the principles to observe to preserve its purity, all on a scale which reflects the importance of the symbols, the knowledge and the imaginary that the element commands.
It is the source of customs that have created a true water culture which, today, is the echo of a multiple and global approach to the environmental, social, human, ethical, religious and economic dimensions of water and ecosystems.
At a time when the resource is the focus of global attention and disquiet regarding our common future, the culture of water must be well understood so that its management and care can be efficient, productive and satisfy a vital need: saving what is becoming "a rare, precious and threatened resource".