22 March - World Water Day 2006: Water and Culture

Feluccas on the Nile river near Philae, Egypt © UNESCO - D. Roger

We need water to survive and prosper; without it, we would have no food to eat, no clothes to wear, no nature to admire and live within, and nothing to help us remain healthy. But in many cultures, water is not only a part of life; it is the origin of life. Creation myths are stories that describe the beginnings of humanity, earth, life and the universe, and water features prominently in a large number of them. In one Egyptian myth, a chaos of churning water, called the Nu, rose up and receded again. With each recession from the turbulence of the water a hill of land would emerge, giving birth to the first sunrise.

There is more than one creation myth associated with water in Egypt, and Egyptian civilization is not the only one to have made water the central element in its creation stories. It is easy to grasp the significance of water in a land where all things - transport, food, water, bathing, writing - were made possible through the Nile River, source of life and livelihood throughout the land.

Many have speculated on the centrality of water in creation myths: in nearly every culture, water plays a vital role in explaining how life began, and how the Earth was given its current form of land, sky and sea. In all cultures, water is life, and represents fertility, growth and birth.

Not only does water appear in creation stories, but also in scientific theories to explain the origin of humankind. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution is the foundation of modern biology, and it holds that the first form of life was born of the ocean - that humankind emerged from the water in one form slowly evolving into its current shape.

The role played by water in our world and the origin of our species is one way in which the different theories of how humankind was born can be reconciled: water is a great uniter - it connects everything.