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Report n°5 : "Water : symbolism and culture"

Folklore and festivities: manifestations of the culture of water

In a certain fashion, many myths are repeated in public festivities and ceremonies; frequently they reveal the foundations of social order. The way the world functions, its creation, life, the origins of society, the way society was organised long ago and the general structure of the cosmos are all explained by myths to reply to the age-old questions that have always perplexed mankind (36).

Folk tales, like the Chinese one related above, are a significant source of cultural, social, religious and every kind of information concerning the value attached to nature and its resources -water particularly- by the most diverse human communities. They are frequently educational and seek to teach respect for the environment, albeit sometimes in a rather elliptical or even esoteric manner.This is also true of certain festivals and ceremonies where water is the focus of attention.

In the Land of the Rising Sun, water is celebrated at a great many festivals. The most famous of them, officially listed as gems of national folklore, include the festival of the Izawa-no-miya sanctuary, or the Sumiyoshi Taisha in Osaka, all centre on the sacred rice fields and transplanting. In July, Japan traditionally celebrates the eradication in the 19th century of cholera, which is a water-borne disease. There is also the Miya water festival on October 5th when the temple of Nishimiya is celebrated to ensure that its well continues to provide water of the excellent quality required to make... sake! The 20th of July is the day when the Ocean and the Mogami river are celebrated with songs and theatrical entertainment and as a token of blessings and love, children spray passers-by with water pistols. To give an idea of the profusion of such celebrations, the festival of the Abe river and the Omizutori ceremony in the temple of Todaiji must also be listed. This latter ceremony takes place in Unose, right in the middle of the Onniu river, the name of which is etymologically close to the word for elixir when water -symbol of eternity- is offered to the gods.

So despite the country's reputation for advanced technology and computerisation, the celebration of water is very much present in Japanese culture and imagination. In any society, myths are a need. Georges Dumézil writes: "A people deprived of myths would die of cold."

In Vietnam, ancestors are believed to be the descendants of the dragon, an animal generally associated with water. The Mekong, which flows into its delta through nine mouths or "nine dragon tails", bears the Vietnamese name Cuu Long, which means the Nine Dragons. This mythical river is particularly venerated. It is born in the snows of Tibet where the Siamese Empire prospered, and ends a 4000 km course in Vietnam after bestowing on that country millions of tons of silt from China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. The Mekong regulates the lives of those who live on its banks by flooding when the time comes for tending the rice fields or for fishing. The people of Vietnam, many of whom live in floating houses, are grateful to the river for its three bounties: rice, fish and the multitude of fruit which give colour and character to the floating markets of Cai Rang, Phung Hiep, Can Tho, Chau Doc and many more.

Water plays a fundamental role in the imagination, the perceptions and the culture of Vietnam, both for the majority ethnic group and for the fifty or so minorities. The same can be said of the economy.The traditional festivals of the largest ethnic group are organised to include boat races, as in Hong Kong or Macao where these regattas are lavish and luxurious. They are even featured in advertisements as tourist attractions.

The Moi people in the Vietnamese mountains use "water chimes" which are set out near the rice paddies to charm the guardian spirits of the rice and ask for a good harvest... with the help of irrigation. This is an eloquent manifestation of the notion of ideology and of a system of mental representations to explain the world around us.

And since rice-growing -which requires a great deal of water- is characteristic of Vietnam, any festivity is a reason to celebrate water. In the Vietnamese pantheon, the spirit of agriculture and the goddess of water are never absent from any feast and are the object of popular worship.

In the Jewish religion, Succoth, (Feast of Tabernacles) is the feast of water (maim) or to be more precise, of rain.Pessah (Passover) celebrates dew (tal).These festivities "are true anthologies of water" writes Patricia Hidiroglou, since "the rites of water which they express recall in summary or by allusion the heroic episodes in Israel's past and refer to its eschatological future: everything which is related to water and to its cycles in the Bible and scriptures is implied (37)" not forgetting that God made the first man by kneading water and earth.

When the Temple still existed in Jerusalem, the greatest joy and the most grandiose celebrations of the Succoth festival were the "water libations". It was said that "He who has not experienced the joy of water libation knows nothing of joy" because water is the terrestrial symbol of the divine word and water gives life individually and to the whole Jewish community. This symbolism is illustrated by the feast of Shavuot, the celebration of the gift of the Torah. On the day of the feast, in Jewish communities in Morocco, people spray each other with water and it seems this could be a survival of an ancient pagan practice in Babylon.

(36) Carlos Garcia Gual, "Les mythes classiques", Pour la Science, n° 167, September 1991, p.70-80.

(37) Patricia Hidiroglou, "L'eau divine et sa symbolique", Albin Michel, Paris, 1994.