We often get lost in a world that is very different from the one we knew as time goes on. Trends change all the time, and even small changes can make us miss the old ways.
My grandmother used to tell us stories about the things she did as a child and show us strange things that we had forgotten about. I now understand that these little pieces of the past are what link us to our ancestry.
People are interested in these old artifacts again because of “what’s this?” articles on the internet, where people share pictures of strange items and ask what they’re used for.
Recently, a picture has been going around the internet that has many people confused. At first glance, it looks like a normal tree branch—V-shaped and nothing special.
But this simple tool has a long past that goes back to the 1500s. Its main job was to find water. It was also called a water dowser, diviner, doodlebug, well witch, or water-finder.
To use the dowser, one would hold both branches in their hands up and tilt the stem of the V 45 degrees toward the ground. As they walked, they looked for motions at the bottom of the V that would mean there was water below.
This method was changed from metal rod dowsing, which was used to find metals underground, to finding water in rural places. Water dowsers were hired by homeowners to find secret water sources.
To find out more about water dowsing, watch the movie below.
Do you know anything about this old tool? Drop your ideas in the box below.
The fact that we no longer play this instrument shows how creative and connected our ancestors were to nature. By learning about the past, we can respect how simple and smart tools like the water dowser were.
