Thursday, May 1, 2014

Page - 44

"Mary’s Well"
NazarethNorth District of Israel


Wednesday, ‎December ‎25, ‎2013

Fifth Day of my Holy Land Trip, Mount Zion, Jerusalem

My Holy Land Trip


"Mary’s Well"
NazarethNorth District of Israel

Mary's well, Near to Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazaret:


Mary’s Well ("The spring of the Virgin Mary") is reputed to be located at the site where the Angel Gabriel appeared to Mary and announced that she would bear the Son of God - an event known as the Annunciation.

Found just below the Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation in modern-day Nazareth, the well was positioned over an underground spring that served for centuries as a local watering hole for the Arab villagers. Renovated twice, once in 1967 and once in 2000, the current structure is a symbolic representation of the structure that was once in use.

The earliest written account that lends credence to a well or spring being the site of the Annunciation comes from the Proto evangelism of James, a non-canonical gospel dating to the 2nd century. The author writes:

"And she took the pitcher and went forth to draw water, and behold, a voice said: 'Hail Mary, full of grace, you are blessed among women.'

However, neither the Gospel of Matthew, Gospel of Mark, Gospel of Luke nor the Gospel of John mentions the drawing of water in their accounts of the Annunciation. Similarly, the Koran records a spirit visiting a chaste Mary to inform her that the Lord has granted her a son to bear, without referencing the drawing of water.

On the way to Mary's well, Basilica of the Annunciation is behind, Nazaret, Northern Israel:
An underground spring in Nazareth traditionally served as the city’s main water source for several centuries, possibly millennia; however, it was not always referred to as "Mary's well" or "Mary's spring". According to the Rosicrucian Forum (1935), before the Christian era, it was known as the "spring of the guard house", so named because the few houses located by it at the time housed a number of local guards who patrolled an important highway that passed by the well. In his book, The Bible as History, Werner Keller writes that "Mary's Well" or "Ain Maryam", as the locals called it, had been so named since "time immemorial" and that it provided the only water supply in the area. William Rae Wilson also describes "a well of the Virgin, which supplied the inhabitants of Nazareth with water" in his book, Travels in Egypt and the Holy Land (1824)

Mary's well, Near to Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazaret:
James Finn, then British Consul in Jerusalem, visited Nazareth in late June 1853 and his company pitched their tents near the fountain, - the only fountain there. He writes that "the water at this spring was very deficient this summer season, yielding only a petty trickling to the anxious inhabitants. All night long the women were there with their jars, chattering, laughing, or scolding in competition for their turns. It suggested a strange current of ideas to overhear pert damsels using the name of Miriam (Mary), in jest and laughter at the fountain of Nazareth"
Mary's well, Near to Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazaret:
While the current structure referred to as Mary's Well is a non-functional reconstruction inaugurated as part of the Nazareth 2000 celebrations, the traditional Mary's Well was a local watering hole, with an over ground stone structure. Through the centuries, villagers would gather here to fill water pitchers (up until 1966) or otherwise congregate to relax and exchange news. At another area not too far off, which tapped into the same water source, shepherds and others with domesticated animals would bring their herds to drink.

The Greek Orthodox Church of the Annunciation, located a little further up the hill from the current site of Mary's Well, is a Byzantine era church built over the spring in the 3rd century, based on the belief that the Annunciation took place at the site. The Catholic Church believes the Annunciation to have taken place less than 0.5 km away at the Basilica of the Annunciation, a now modern structure which houses an older church inside of it that dates from the 4th century.
Mary's well, Near to Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazaret:
Excavations by Yardenna Alexandre and Butrus Hanna of the Israel Antiquities Authority in 1997-98 - sponsored by the Nazareth Municipality and the Government Tourist Corporation - discovered a series of underground water systems and suggested that the site today known as Mary’s Well served as Nazareth's main water supply from as early as Byzantine times. Despite having found Roman era potsherds, Alexander’s report claimed hard evidence of Roman-era use of the site was lacking.

Near to Mary's well & Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazareth, Northern Israel:
In the late 1990s, a local Nazareth couple, Elias and Martina Shama, were trying to discover the source of a water leak in their gift shop, Cactus, just in front of Mary’s Well. Digging through the wall, they discovered underground passages that, upon further digging revealed a vast underground complex. A North American research team conducted high-resolution ground penetrating radar (GPR) surveys at a number of locations in and around Mary’s Well in 2004-5 to determine appropriate locations for further digging to be conducted beneath the bathhouse. Samples were collected for radio-carbon dating and the initial data from GPR readings seem to confirm the presence of additional subterranean structures.
Mary's well, Near to Basilica of the Annunciation, Nazaret in 1947:
In 2003, archaeologist Richard Freund stated his belief that the site was clearly of Byzantine origins: ""I am sure that what we have here is a bathhouse," he says, "and the consequences of that for archaeology, and for our knowledge of the well, are enormous."

Carbon 14 dating was done on 3 samples of charcoal, each was found to come from a very different time period, indicating the bath house had been used in multiple periods, and at least was used sometime between 1300–1400 BC, although with only 3 samples dated, it is possible for the bath house to be older.

Mary's Well (or Mary's Spring) was the city's main source of water. Some believe that this is where Mary used to bathe Jesus and wash his clothes, and that Jesus himself would come down to the pool and fetch water for his mother.

The plaza and the well were renovated and reconstructed for the millennium celebrations in 2000. Archeological excavations have uncovered the remains of tunnels and pools from different periods, and this is shown in an exhibition in the Meeting Hall of the City Council. The well's current shape is identical to the one in the pictures taken by the pilgrims in the nineteenth century.

The spring and its water are considered holy by both Muslims and Christians, and earlier generations attributed unusual healing properties to it. In the seventeenth century, bottles of water from Mary's Well were sent to France, and during the Middle Ages the Catholic Church granted forgiveness for sins to those who visited the site.

Mary’s Well History

The spring rises in a cave thirty meters north of the Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. Originally the public well was located next to the small pool that is now inside the Orthodox Church of the Annunciation. But after the church was established, local people were barred from using the well and a replacement was built in the shape of a public water trough, to which the water was channeled from the church. The water was also used by farmers to irrigate their fields. 

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