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Itinéraires par région

Springs and fountains in the legends and beliefs of the island are places of encounter with the Others, the dead, the moghi, the fairies, the orchi. In the island's legends, the key encounters in the stories are very often near a fountain. Some springs belong to the fairies and are said to cure many ills. Some were said to overcome sterility, others, often Christianised by chapels dedicated to Santa Lucia, cured eye diseases. It is near the waterholes that the mazzeri and streii gather and watch out for the unwary who venture there at night, at sunset or at noon sharp, times when the sun's rays pass overhead that do not belong to the living. They risk catching the "imbuscata", the dreaded evil eye given by the dead and the mazzeri. The water that rises from the depths of the earth belongs to the dead, and is therefore ambivalent; it fertilises the earth and allows life, because in the beliefs, the dead are the guarantors of fecundity, they hold the seeds of all that is born. They are said to be thirsty and jealous of the living, which is why they lurk in these places. Water, whether a simple source or a tumultuous river, is a limit, a frontier, it evokes and symbolises the ultimate limit, the crossing, death. It separates and unites. It allows communication and exchange between worlds. Numerous rites took place in these places to attract prosperity to the living. Notably on New Year's Day, when women placed stones near the springs in homage to the fairies. Similarly, on New Year's Eve, at exactly midnight, young people would run to the fountain to drink the fairy water, which would flow for a short time and grant all wishes.

Sainte-Lucie-de-Tallano

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