Bells Saem in Yeongcheon-ri, Jangseong

Bells Saem lies at the entrance to Odong Village, nestled between Bonghwangsan Mountain and Jebongsan Mountain. Because the water rises bubbling up like bells, the spring came to be called Bangulsaem, or Yeongcheon (鈴泉, 'bell spring'), and many stories have been passed down about it. This spring, the village's shared well, is said to have once been a marsh from which a dragon ascended to heaven more than 500 years ago. Old records say the spring was held to be miraculous: in times of drought, rain-prayer rites were held at it, and its water would sometimes turn reddish or run milky-white, by which people foretold events in the world. It is said that muddy, ochre-coloured water appeared at times of upheaval such as the Donghak Peasant Revolution, the Korean War and natural disasters, while clear white water appeared when good things befell the nation, such as a bumper harvest. It is also said that every fish in the spring is blind in its right eye — even a fish brought in from elsewhere is said to go blind once it enters the spring — and that anyone who caught these fish was certain to suffer misfortune, so people were warned against it. The people of Odong Village regard the spring as sacred, and every year on the fifteenth day of the first lunar month they hold a rite at Bells Saem alongside the dangsanje, the rites held at the village's two guardian trees. Geologically, Bells Saem sits where an underground aquifer, exposed close to the surface by a geological fold structure, comes nearest the ground, over a bed of limestone. It is thought that this topographic position, combined with chemical changes in the limestone, is what causes the spring water to bubble up like bells and occasionally to turn reddish. Restored to its present form in 1931 and again in 1991, the spring still serves today as both a drinking-water source and an irrigation source for the village; its flow is little affected even by drought, and its water temperature stays constant, cool in summer and warm in winter. Regarded almost as a symbol guarding the village, it is closely tied to residents' lives in cultural terms and carries numerous legends concerning the nation's peace and the village's wellbeing, giving it value as both a natural and a cultural heritage asset.

AI Translation

Where it is

Region

Jangseong, Jeonnam & Gwangju

Designation

Provincial Monument · 시도기념물