© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 53
T. Sime-Ngando et al. (eds.), Lake Pavin, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-39961-4_3
Dragons, Fairies, Miracles and Worship
at Pavin and Other European
Maar-LakesMichel Meybeck
Abstract
The legends, miracles and fantastic stories of Pavin and around are numerous, although the
key ones are so far not attributed to it. The current legend, that of the Sunken City , common
to many lakes, was created in the late XIXth century. The Thrown Stone and the Whirl and
storm stories reported in the XIXth century are the transposition of the descriptions made
since the XVIth century (Chap. 2 ), although the Thrown Stone motif also existed for other
mountain lakes, before being used for Pavin. The 1547 miracle that occurred near Pavin can
be understood as a passer-by loosing and recovering his sight during a Pavin CO 2 degassing
event. It is followed by many abnormal events during 100 years, recorded in the Vassière
pilgrimage registers, that can be attributed to Pavin misbehavior. The Gloomy Lake Dragon
story, reported in 1632, can be related to a mudfl ow produced by Pavin overspill.
The Fairies Garden legend, found in church archives in the XIXth century and here
attributed to Pavin, takes place during the pagan era when another type of lake- bound
dragon was regularly worshipped by local tribes, including human sacrifi ces, until eventu-
ally defeated by the fi rst evangelizator of the area (Vth century). Gregorius of Tours (before
600 AD) mentions another dragon attack of hermit Caluppa , around 590 AD, and details a
regular pagan lake cult, followed by an early Christian settlement, both could be re-attrib-
uted to Pavin. The fear of lacus pavens is possibly featured in the iconography of the medi-
eval Besse church, some 4 km away (XIIth century capitals, XVIth century misericords,
1670 Santa Martha chapel).
The Longue Durée comparison of Pavin legends with those of other maar lakes in Italy
and Germany highlights multiple signs of misbehaviors in most of these meromictic lakes,
which can be attributed to degassing features. Since the early Antiquity regular and impor-
tant pagan cults were established on their rims (Averno, Albano and Nemi Lakes), followed
by Christian cults (Defeat of pope Silvester dragon -330s AD- and conversion of pagans,
possibly at Albano Lake; Monticchio, Laachersee Lakes). Tunnels or canals were excavated
to avoid lake overspills (Albano, Nemi, Averno, Monticchio, and Laachersee). Descriptions
of dragons (Albano or Nemi), fantastic animals (Ulmen Maar), access to Inferno (Averno),
legendary records of village destructions and sudden death (Toten Maar, Pulver Maar) are
some of the means of risk transmission across generations that started at least 2700 years
ago. Degassing maar-lakes may be a major point of origin for some European myths, lake
legends and fantastic creatures, a point worth further investigation.M. Meybeck (*)
METIS, CNRS-Université Paris 6, UMR 7619 ,
Place Jussieu , 75252 Paris Cedex 05 , France
e-mail: [email protected]