Yet another aspect of the springs which have drawn people together for various connections throughout the ages, Dr. Machado shows the continuous theme of baptism still in use today. Your writer witnessed a baptism carried out by members of an Hispanic Protestant church at Rum Island Springs in 2019.
One more reason to protect and restore our abundance of springs have have for so long been neglected and abused.
Read the original article with photos here in the Gainesville Sun.
Comments by OSFR historian Jim Tatum.
jim.tatum@oursantaferiver.org
– A river is like a life: once taken,
it cannot be brought back © Jim Tatum
Victoria Machado Guest columnist
June 23, 2022
In a black-and-white photo, church congregants dressed from head to toe in white gather at the edge of water. A man leads a woman by the hand into the water.
Fellow congregants anxiously wait on shore as the woman, also dressed fully in white, embarks on the public ritual of baptism. Before her, a few others are completing total immersion into clear blue waters of North Central Florida, finishing up the process of being saved and restored though the ritual cleansing.
Transformation occurred for people and for the spring. Souls were restored and the spring was transformed from a fun-filled place of recreation into a holy font.
Springs have attracted the faithful throughout Florida’s history. Though photographs exist, little has been written about these North Florida baptisms.
Still, the faithful have not completely abandoned baptisms in the springs — reenacting the very custom that Jesus would have undergone at the hands of John the Baptist in a similar outdoor setting.
Investigate the background of any culture and you will find that water plays a central role. Early Spanish settlers and indigenous populations found North Florida’s water to be sacred — promoting health and youthfulness, ideas that continue today.
Not only does water help create life but, in many cases, following the popular mantra, water is life. The same goes for our beloved springs.
Often when using the springs as a way to cool off, we forget to see these waters for what they are: integral parts of culture, tradition, ritual and life….
Even with such sacred connections, we collectively continue to put local waters at risk through bottling, runoff, pollution, deforestation, overdevelopment and overconsumption. By viewing water as a resource to be used — an expendable commodity to consume, deplete, and trash for the sake of pleasure and so-called progress — we are sacrificing our connection to the past traditions that formed us and the future direction of traditions that will shape us.
We have rethought our relationship with water before. For the sake of a sustainable future, it’s time to rethink it again.
Dr. Victoria Machado is a third-generation South Floridian who holds a Ph.D. from the University of Florida, where she focused her studies on religion and nature and Religion in the Americas. Her research explores the intersection of water and faith among Florida’s environmental activists. This column is part of The Sun’s Messages from the Springs Heartland series.
