Editing Spring (hydrology) (section)

=== Sacred springs ===
{{main|Holy well}}
[[File:La Reana2.jpg|thumb|''[[Fontes Tamarici]]'', in [[Spain]]]]
A sacred spring, or holy well, is a small body of water emerging from underground and revered in some religious context: [[Christianity|Christian]] and/or [[Paganism|pagan]] and/or other.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Ray |first=Celeste |date=2011 |title=The Sacred and the Body Politic at Ireland's Holy Wells |journal=International Social Science Journal |volume=62 |issue=205/206 |pages=271–85 |doi=10.1111/issj.12000}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Byrne |first=Garreth |date=2002 |title=Holy Wells in Britain and Ireland |journal=Contemporary Review |volume=280 |issue=1636 |page=295 |via=[[EBSCOhost]]}}</ref> The lore and mythology of [[ancient Greece]] was replete with sacred and storied springs—notably, the [[Corycian nymphs|Corycian]], [[Pierian Spring|Pierian]] and [[Castalian Spring|Castalian]] springs. In medieval Europe, pagan sacred sites frequently became [[Christianization|Christianized]] as holy wells. The term "holy well" is commonly employed to refer to any water source of limited size (i.e., not a lake or river, but including pools and natural springs and seeps), which has some significance in local [[folklore]]. This can take the form of a particular name, an associated [[legend]], the attribution of [[healing]] qualities to the water through the [[numen|numinous]] presence of its guardian spirit or of a [[Christian saint]], or a ceremony or [[ritual]] centered on the well site. [[Christian legend]]s often recount how the action of a saint caused a spring's water to flow - a familiar theme, especially in the [[hagiography]] of [[Celtic Christianity|Celtic]] saints.{{citation needed|date=November 2021}}