I have been visiting Melaka famous A Famosa Fort recently. While visiting the big fort, I found out that some people like to throw their money in a well and some open graveyard. Its easy to throw money or is it because throwing money is a tradition that we cannot doing? To anyone who have not going to A famosa, it is a fortress located in Malacca, Malaysia. It is among the oldest surviving European architectural remains in Asia. The Porta de Santiago, a small gate house, is the only remaining part of the fortress still standing.
Photo: Melaka Famous "The Porta De Santiago".Why do people throw money in a well, fountain or lake? Most people do that after they make a wish. In most cases, they throw coins or put some offering near that well or fountain. Some maybe wishing about their life and throw a penny. Its been going on for a very long time. When I am talking with some friends in Melaka recently, he told me that people throw some pretty good collection in there. People working in that place found some gold and old coins when its time to clean that place. I don't know if that true but the tradition of throw a wish with your coin sound fascinating to me.
Photo: A Wishing well.A wishing well is a term from European folklore to describe wells where it was thought that any spoken wish would be granted. The idea that a wish would be granted came from the idea that water housed deities or had been placed there as a gift from the gods, since water was a source of life and often a scarce commodity. People believe that the guardians or dwellers of the well would grant them their wish if they paid a price. After uttering the wish, one would generally drop coins in the well. That wish would then be granted by the guardian or dweller, based upon how the coin would land at the bottom of the well.
In Rome, Italy, an estimated 3,000 euros are thrown into the Trevi Fountain each day. A traditional legend holds that if visitors throw a coin into the fountain, they are ensured a return to Rome. Among those who are unaware that the "three coins" of Three Coins in the Fountain were thrown by three different individuals, a reported current interpretation is that two coins will lead to a new romance and three will ensure either a marriage or divorce. A reported current version of this legend is that it is lucky to throw three coins with one's right hand over one's left shoulder into the Trevi Fountain.
Photo: This is suppose to be a graveyard but you can see money thrown away.In ancient Greece it was an offering to the Naiad nymph of the spring or well. She was an important spirit, for if the fountain ran dry the town would be without water. In Greek mythology, the Naiads or Naiades were a type of nymph who presided over fountains, wells, springs, streams, and brooks. The god of merchants, Hermes, also had luck oracles where people would toss a coin into the sacred spring and the priest would interpret the meaning by how it fell.
According to ancient mythology such as Mímir's Well from Nordic myths, also known as the "Well of Wisdom", a Well that could grant you infinite wisdom provided you sacrificed something you held dear. Odin was asked to sacrifice his right eye which he threw into the well to receive not only the wisdom of seeing the future but the understanding of why things must be. Mímir is the Nordic god of wisdom, and his well sits at the roots of Yggdrasil, the World Tree which draws its water from the well.
Any of you make a wish lately?
Source: Wikipedia.
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