Have you ever observed a river, a lake or the sea? Water runs along the rivers until it arrives to the sea, a huge extension of water, so big that it seems infinite, so blue, so green that far in the horizon it merges with the sky. Men and women of all times have been captivated by the sea end even feeling afraid thinking of the deep sea bottom inhabited by monsters protecting great treasures prepared to fight against people; those who could defeat these monsters have been regarded as heroes, half-gods, etc.

For many different religions, water existed before solid earth. The solid earth has been born from the water: this is a way of saying "water is essential for life".

But water can give life and also water can kill.

Men and women know that water is necessary for living and that water means life. However, they also know that water also can kill by flooding: water also means death. Thus, water is both life and death.

The fields have to be poured with water to bloom. Animals need water not to die when they are thirsty. The rain nourishes the fields, fulfils the rivers, but when it rains too much, fields are flooded, plants and animals die: water kills everything. But, after that, mother earth is born again, has been fertilised, even more powerful than before.

Water which kills causes a re-birth. The ritual immersion in the water represents the death that allows us to be born again for a new and better life. No matter which religion we examine, water has this double function: on one hand it kills but, on the other hand, the purify and regenerate us.


1.- From what you have red, answer the following questions:
a) How do ancient cultures explain that water is essential for life?
b) Which ritual function accomplishes water?
c) Find the comic Asterix's great travel. Read and observe carefully page 11. Why do ancient cultures both venerate and are afraid of sea immensity?

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