Blurb:

In a land with many arid desserts, water has earned its place in the cultural history of Saudi Arabia as a blessing, a symbol of good fortune and even the highest of holy elements. In the Hijaz region of the kingdom, three ritualistic practices celebrate the strong cultural and religious meanings that water embodied for the local community: cooking with rainwater; drinking the water of the holy well, Zamzam; and smoking water jugs with incense. The paper describes these three ritualistic practices in the Hijazi history and attempts to meditate upon their spiritual and cultural aspects. On the first rainy day of the year, women of the Hijaz region, which include cities like Mecca, Medina, and Jeddah, have traditionally been used to collecting rainwater in their yards and using it to make the local lentil and rice dish, maadous. This lunch meal became associated with celebrating rain communally, as families gathered in celebration of the auspicious bounties that rain represents. Cooking with rainwater was believed to transfer the sacred qualities that it represents (purity, forgiveness, and mercy) as mentioned in the Quran to the bodies of those who consume it. On the other hand, drinking holy Zamzam water, is linked to performing the ritual of Hajj in Mekkah. The water from Zamzam well is considered holy given the well’s location inside the Holy Mosque of Mecca, and according to the religious story, was a miracle that sprang up from the ground for the prophet Ismail and his mother Hagar. Hence, ever since the earliest period of Islam, drinking Zamzam water was performed with specific ritualistic elements that reinforce its spiritual and religious value. Moreover, distilled floral essences were traditionally used to flavour and scent water in the past, in addition to smoking the clay water pots and jugs with mastic gum incense. Relying on oral history, historical analysis and Arabic poetry, this research paper presents a study of how the most basic of elements, water, was used in rituals to embody its spiritual meanings and the relationship to divinity.