Category Archives: First Nation
The abecedary of sacred springs of the world: Mexico’s sacred cenote
This year I am returning to my abdecary of holy wells and healings springs of the world I started in 2017. As Friar Diego de Landa observed in 1566 after visiting Chichen Itza:
“Into this well they have had, and then had, the custom of throwing men alive as a sacrifice to the gods, in times of draught, and they believed that they did not die though they never saw them again. They also threw into it a great many other things, like precious stones and things which they prized. And so, if this country had possessed gold, it would be this well that would have the great part of it.”
Alfred M. Tozzer (trans.), ed. Landa’s Relacion de las Cosas de Yucatan
On the Yucatan peninsula, the limestone worn by millennia of the elements has created remarkable sink holes or cenotes that at Chichen Itza is known as the Cenote Sagrada, the sacred cenote or more disturbingly the Well of Sacrifice; an eerie and mysterious place but how true is it?
Site of sacrifice
Local tradition both Mayan and Spanish claim that before the Spanish settlements the Maya would sacrifice objects and human beings to placate Chaac the rain god. Ever keen to reveal the truth it was Edward Herbert Thompson who between 1904 to 1910 decided to dredge the bottom and revealed some interesting objects. Thompson was working through unstable times during the Mexican revolution and understandably perhaps some of the objects went missing before they were catalogued. His house was also burnt down during his time there consequently resulting in him losing notes.
Thompson is said to have bought the site and used a pulley system with a bucket. Although much of the early work involved clearing debris such as trees which hampered the procedure. The buckets would be removed and local people sifted through the water to find artefacts and categorise them accordingly. These objects according to Clemency Chase Coggins 1984 Cenote of Sacrifice: Maya Treasures from the Sacred Well at Chichen Itz were obsidian, wood, shells, bone cloth, rubber, pottery an flints as well as gold, jadeite, copal. Some of these materials were not native to the Yucatan peninsular suggesting that perhaps pilgrimages were made to the site and that it was an important cultural centre. Was there also evidence that some of the materials were purposely damaged before being thrown into it a common activity throughout the world to ‘kill’ the object before sacrificing it. What is interesting is the organic matter which was remarkably preserved particularly the wooden ones which indicated what weapons they sacrificed.
Thompson also decided to dive in 1909 into the Cenote but what with its unstable rocky bottom, loose trees and murky water, it was both hazardous and difficult to see. He was very produce that he was the last person to tread on the bottom of the Cenote adding:
“full of long narrow cracks, radiating from centers as if the glass bottom of a dish had been broken by a pointed instrument. We found down in the cracks and holes a grayish mud in which were imbedded the heavier gold objects, jades, and copper bells in numbers.”
Other excavations were subsequently less successful, the Instituto Nacional de Antropologia e Historia (INAH) director William Folan in 1961 did find wooden ear flares with jade and turquoise mosac, a large chert knife, a gold sheathed bone with a wooden handle. The subsequent exploration of Norman Scott and Roman Pina-Chan in 1967-8 tried emptying the cenote and trying to clear the water. However, only 13 feet or so of water could be removed and it did not really clear.
What about the human sacrifice?
What of course interests archaeologists is the human sacrificial remains. The bones found in the site had marks that concurred with wounds associated with sacrifice These sacrifices consisted of both male and females, children and infants Guillermo de Anda (2007) Sacrifice and Ritual Body Mutilation in Postclassical Maya Society: Taphonomy of the Human Remains from Chichén Itzá’s Cenote Sagrado”. In Vera Tiesler and Andrea Cucina (eds.). New Perspectives on Human Sacrifice and Ritual Body Treatments in Ancient Maya Society.of the University of Yucatán, states that Mayan mythology emphasises that children 6 to 12 were often male being captured or purchased. Those kidnaped were collected whilst parents toiled fields, or via battle. They were more often than not killed prior to being thrown and what made this site special that it was a sacrificial one as others were used for domestic supplies. Perhaps the last person to witness this was Franciscan leader Diego de Landa as he claimed to have witnessed live sacrifices:
“ the custom of throwing men alive as a sacrifice to the gods, in times of draught, and they believed that they did not die though they never saw them again.”
An abecedary of Sacred Springs of the World: Canada- the Harrison Hot Springs
Harrison is a typical Canadian settlement. Clinging to the wilds, remote, a mixture of desolate and delightful. Full of welcoming people and for following of this blog a curious water source which is the very reason for its existence!
Ancient sacred springs
The Harrison area is an area rich in ancient First Nation relics. The local tribe here are the Sts;Ailes (Chehalis) who established themselves along the Harrison River. The spring was called Waum Chauk and said to have supernatural properties and had healing properties if drunk. The nature of their veneration is unclear but as a tribe their association with the ‘mythical’ Sasquatch is an interesting side observation especially as I visited on their Sasquatch Day.
I spoke at length to the elder of the Sts’Ailes on Sasquatch Day who informed me that they no longer bless the source of the Harrison hot springs but another spring further around the lake edge. Water was still important to their community and the morning of the Sasquatch Day, the tribe’s holy man had blessed the lake water in a private ceremony.
Two hot springs
There are two springs nearby. One which produces potash whose temperature is 40 °C, and presumably that is the one which flows rather unannounced a few yards from the larger and more obvious sulphur spring. It’s temperature is 65 °C and this is very noticeable. The spring produces 1300 ppm of dissolved mineral solids which is the highest of any mineral spring.
From the hotel a path leads to the left around the side of the lake and beneath the dense mossy woods. It reaches the source of the spring and stops. This source of the sulphur spring is like one would have imagined Bath’s sacred spring looked. The spring arising to fill in a large pool, which produced a considerable amount of steam even on a hot June day. The actual source is enclosed in an odd concrete chamber flowing out to one side. Huge plumes of hot steam arise from it and the smell of sulphur is considerable. In the pool nearby are small fishes who appear to be making nests of pebbles, the temperature whilst not as hot as 65 °C perhaps, is still very warm and these species clearly are adapted to the warm waters.
European discovery
Discovery by the European settlement happened when three miners from the Cariboo gold field capsized in the lake and should have frozen to the their death but surprisingly they lived – kept alive by the warm waters of the town’s titular springs. Whatever the truth behind the story is unclear but soon after the discovery commercial use was being investigated.
A Joseph Armstrong purchased the 40 acres of land around the spring in 1873 and set about building a spa complex. He named the well St Alice’s Well, a pun based on his daughter’s name and possibly on the original First nation Sts’Ailes. He separated the spring from the lake, which was thought to have been impossible by engineers and by 1886 St. Alice Hotel was built which could accommodate 50 guests. The building was burnt down in 1905 and the present Harrison Hot Springs hotel built nearby.
The Modern spa complex
The hot spring water is piped to two locations. One the public baths and the other the Harrison Hot Springs resort. The Harrison Hot Springs Hotel was opened in May 1926 by a Belgium emigre Mme Marguerite de Guesseme. She stayed until 1943 when the building was taken over for the war effort. Here six baths of differing temperatures are established. If you visit Harrison, a stay at the hotel is a must. The hot spring is directly piped to a central bath of which a sign reads not to sit in there for more than 10 minutes. Despite this a number of people were ignoring this and staying for too long. The middle temperature pool was the best and one could sit there for hours looking on the snowcap mountains ahead and listening to the cries of wild animals in the surrounding woods – or perhaps Sasquatch.
An abecedary of sacred springs of the world: (United States) of America: The sacred springs of Seattle
This year’s running theme is to look at global holy wells and healing springs. So for the next twelve months I will doing an abecedary so this months, a bit of a cheat I report back on a site I visited last year. My aim to is to at the similarities between them and many British sites. To start with is a typical spring which is very similar being a religious site later converted to a spa.
Mention Seattle you’ll get Sky Tower, Monorail, Grunge scene perhaps, healing springs are generally not on the list. However, in the suburbs can be found a number of springs which survive in pockets of undeveloped land. One such area is Licton Springs, a small park, located in North Seattle between Interstate 5 and Aurora Avenue, which protects its titular spring.
A red spring sacred to the First Nation
Licton Springs had a spiritual and ritual significance for possibly thousands of years (the area was populated after the last glacial period c10,000 years ago) to the local Duwamish, the tribe who incidentally under Chief Seattle signed the 1855 Port Elliott Treaty at Mukilteo which gave the world Seattle of course!
Like the more well-known Chalice Well, the significance of the spring was in the providing of its red paint, called Lee’kteed, pronounced liq’ted. The word liq’ted being a dialect word for the reddish mud made from the red ochre deposited. Here this red-ochre pigment would be harvested for spiritual celebration. This red pigment being itself considered sacred and used in the marital ceremonies between the High Borns, the hereditary nobility who married outside of the tribe to other coastal Salish. As a consequence, it was here at the springs they would annually gather to gather the pigment which would only be found in this region. The red-ochre was used to paint their faces, cover their longhouses and other objects of spiritual significance.
Around the spring the tribe built a wu Xted (WUKH-Tud) a sweat lodge where those visiting the spring could cleanse and revitalise. Herbs and the red paint would be applied to the skin to heal.
The coming of the Europeans colonisers
After purchasing Licton springs in 1870, Seattle pioneer David Denny had the water of two springs in the area tested in 1883 and the results were favourable – one being Iron (the surviving Licton Springs) and the other Sulphur Magnesia. So begun the spa history of the springs. Indeed, the impact of the well was personal, Denny’s own daughter Emily Inez was cured so it was recorded from an incurable disease by drinking the waters. Denny himself only built a cabin but still thousands visited. It was not until 1903 when Calhoun, Denny and Ewing when landscapers Olmstead brothers were to build rustic shelters over the two spring basins and they became a favourite resort for Seattle being a health resort. The rustic shelters never happened but photos from the 1910s show a circular stone surround around the springhead. However, it was not until 1935, an Edward A. Jensen provided thermal baths at a newly developed spa. A sign proclaimed:
“Before travelling to distant resorts in search of health, investigate the merits of the Spa Licton Springs thermal bath.”
The sign proclaimed it would give:
“Relief of neuritis, arthritis, rheumatism, lumbago, tired arches, nervous depositions.”
He also bottled the water and sold it. It is unclear how successful the scheme was but by 1960 the park was purchased by the city. Sadly, the spa building and shed over the iron spring were demolished. However, the iron spring was enclosed by a concrete ring which remains today.
Despite being enclosed in a park, the spring still has a significant role for the Duwamish. Like many wells modernisation is still a threat as the quote from the Matt Remle’s Sacred sites, sacred rites: Saving Licton Springs on the Last Real Indians website notes:
“ Elders from the Duwamish and other tribes have voiced concerns about damage to or the loss of Licton Springs. I recently spoke with one of my Elders who, as a child, was taken to le’qtid (“Licton Springs”) by her father. She expressed concerns that the demolition of Wilson-Pacific School (Indian Heritage High School) and the construction of the new Mega-School may damage the subterranean water table, disrupting the flow of the mineral waters from the sacred site.
This Elder told me that she had visited le’qtid last Fall to prepare for the Winter Ceremonials, as is our tradition since time immemorial. She pointed out that the rate of flow from le’qtid was substantially reduced, compared to her first visit those many years ago.
Le’qtid cannot be re-created, replaced, or re-located. Its importance is beyond measure and description, and its value is beyond price. The Duwamish People are the stewards of le’qtid, other holy places and the natural endowment that dókwibuA (Creator) bestowed upon our ‘ál’altid (Ancestral Homeland).
At the beginning of time, le’qtid (“Licton Springs”) was given to us by dókwibuA (Creator) in perpetuity. It is an inalienable part of our Patrimony, a legacy from our Ancestors, and the Cultural Heritage of the dxdew’abS (People-of-the-Inside), Chief Seattle’s Duwamish Tribe.”
holyandhealingwells 