Maybe some of you remember the episode of Genesis Biblical account of Joseph's arrival in Egypt and how he interprets Pharaoh's dreams. The monarch had dreamed of 7 fat cows and 7 lean cows and José told him that the first 7 represented years of abundance and the next 7 years of scarcity. Knowing that this was going to happen, the granaries were filled during the first 7 years and thus the Egyptian people could eat in the time of scarcity. The terrible STONES OF HUNGER they were in some way an attempt to warn future generations of something that was about to happen: the arrival of a famine. Do you know what they were?
The hunger stones They were used especially in Central Europe during the 15th to 19th centuries and have been found in riverbeds when the water flow has dropped due to a drought. Since the beginning of the 19th century there has been news in the Czech and German newspapers about the appearance of stones.
The terrible STONES OF HUNGER
In Těchlovice, a locality of the district of Děčín in the Czech Republic, in 1892, appeared in the bed of the river a stone that was read by the boatmen who in turn reported it to the citizens. The stone had the following inscription as an oracle:
" Who once saw me, cried "
Other stone of hunger, they have similar phrases: "They have cried, we cry and you will cry" , " Whoever sees me now, will cry, "" When you see me, cry "or" If you see me, cry ". These phrases clearly indicate what they were and what they were used for. Stones of Hunger . Unlike the brands that are usually made in places where the water has reached a completely unusual height due to floods, the marks on the hunger stones they serve as memorials and warning of the famine that will come when the river flow has descended until they are uncovered.
There are numerous examples, especially in the Czech Republic and Germany, from the fifteenth century, but apparently at the beginning of the century a stone with a date of the eleventh century was found, but it has not been seen again.
When there were no centers or meteorological records, the locals marked on the stones the important milestones that occurred in the place. Thus, when there was a stage of drought, the level to which the flow had descended and the year in which it had happened was often marked on a stone. In addition, it used to be accompanied by a phrase, such as the ones mentioned above, that should serve as a warning to the locals of the hunger that was to come because of the lack of water for the crops and because the rivers would be shallow to navigate them. Also in some places they indicated that there would be no salt supply.
In many places stones have been discovered with marked dates: 1816 and 1817. The stones were erected or marked during the famine that happened to the "year without summer" after the eruption in Indonesia, in 1815, of the Tambora volcano that caused some climatic anomalies globally. The crops were lost and the cattle died giving rise to the worst famine of the nineteenth century.
The summer of 2018 has been especially dry and in the Czech Republic have been seen to emerge, especially on the Elbe River, many of these ancient Stones of Hunger . One of them has written that the drought had brought a bad harvest, lack of food, rising prices and hunger for the poorest people. In addition to the stones, several unexploded bombs of the Second World War have been found in the riverbed.
Meteorologists, however, have said that despite the harshness of the drought in Central Europe this summer of 2018, in which many of the hunger stones have been visible, this does not mean that it has been worse than in other occasions. The droughts of the 21st century are the most extreme due to the lack of precipitation during the period that should be rainy, but in reality they have not been as severe or as long as those that have affected Europe in the last 250 years.
To raise awareness of the terrible effects of climate change and following the secular tradition of hunger stones, in August 2018, Greenpeace placed a starvation stone on the Elbe riverbed, at the southern end of the Domfelsen, a rock formation near the cathedral of Magdeburg . It consists of an inscription that says: "If you see me, it is that the climate crisis has arrived".
Had you heard about the Stones of Hunger ? Is there something similar in your country? Share it with us! If this post has interested you, maybe you want to know 4 sacred stones that fell from heaven .