Water in Culture and Religion: Significance and Symbolism, Study Guides, Projects, Research of Civil Engineering

Download Water in Culture and Religion: Significance and Symbolism and more Study Guides, Projects, Research Civil Engineering in PDF only on Docsity! Water in Culture and Religion C E 397 – Transboundary Water Resources April 10 th , 2008 Michele Stewart Intro: The entire world seems to recognize the importance of water and its necessity for life. However, water is also respected for many additional reasons in different cultures and religions. All views on water are related to its basic functions and significance to life. Water in Culture: The fact that water is necessary for survival makes it a key part of culture. All major civilizations developed around a large source of water—and most often a source of freshwater. This allows for agriculture, trade, transport and defense. The benefits are numerous and as a result allow for population and economic growth. Culture and religion are often associated, and as a result cultural views on water are generally based on the predominant religious views of the area. Consequently a discussion of water in Religion is pertinent to the discussion of water in culture. Water in Religion: Water plays a significant role not only in the five major religions, but also in nearly every recognized religion in history. While each religion may differ in rituals and beliefs, there are some consistent views on water related to the foundation of most religions and the natural significance of water. It is not difficult to understand the meaning in, and reasoning for each religion’s water rituals and beliefs. We will briefly discuss some of the symbolism of water that is consistent between any the following religions: Bahá’í, Buddhism, Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Shinto and Zoroastrianism. Most religions are based on a set of morals, what is right and wrong, and most view doing the wrong thing as being “impure”. Since water cleans and purifies, many