It is said that "water is the foundation of life". Since ancient times, people have regarded water as indispensable as life. Therefore, where there are human habitation, there will always be a source of water nearby. However, as time went on, people became reluctant to wade through mountains and rivers to fetch water from afar. Therefore, in order to obtain water more easily, people have learned a professional skill - digging wells. Interestingly, when the ancients were digging wells, they often chose to put a turtle in the well. Do you know what the significance of this move is?
According to legend, it is believed that the shape of the turtle resembles the mysterious "Xuanwu", and it is revered as the water god of the north. There is a saying that "the thousand-year-old king is 80,000 years old", making the turtle a symbol of longevity. Therefore, the ancients often chose to place the turtle in the well after digging the well water, hoping that the mysterious power of the turtle would bless the water of the well with a continuous stream of water that would never be exhausted.
In addition, the turtle is placed in the well for the purpose of water quality testing. Water is the source of life, and everything in the world is inseparable from it. In the presence of water, the human body can support it for seven days, and in the absence of water it can only support it for three days, which is enough to demonstrate the indispensability of water. Therefore, the ancients threw turtles into wells with the aim of evaluating the quality of the well water through the turtle's behavior to ensure the purity and reliability of the water source.
However, as the ancient adage goes, "illness comes from the mouth", even if there is a slight difference in the daily diet, the disease may easily invade the human body. In addition, water is the source of life, and if there is a problem with the water quality, it is very likely to cause serious diseases, so water safety is of paramount importance. Considering that the water source of the well came from the ground, the ancients were concerned about the safety of the water, even though they did not understand the concept of groundwater pollution. For this reason, it is wise to put a turtle in a well so that you can observe and judge the quality of the water.
However, some experts' research has found that the ancient people's use of turtles in the well was not purely superstitious, but had a certain scientific plausibility. This is because when turtles are kept in wells, they usually only drink well water. The unfortunate death of a turtle is closely related to the possibility that there may be a problem with the quality of the well or the possibility of being poisoned. In this way, villagers can detect water quality anomalies in time and avoid potential hazards. In ancient times, a single well could be used by multiple households, so keeping turtles in a well was actually an early preventative measure to help detect potential tragedies in advance and ensure the safety of the water source.
*From the Internet, if there is any infringement, contact to delete!!100 help plan