Egyptians in general were associated with water and considered the Nile as a source of life, as it is said: Egypt is the gift of the Nile. Due to this belief that water is the source of life and goodness, there were many miracles of water springs flowing through the knowledge of Christ.
Thus, the presence of the Holy Family was associated with life and goodness represented in water wells.
The people of Tel Basta refusing to receive the family
Tel Basta is one of the ancient Egyptian cities mentioned in the Pharaonic history. When the Holy Family arrived there at noon, they sat under a tree outside the city to take shade from the glare and heat of the sun. During their rest from the hardships of traveling, the Lord Jesus asked the Virgin Mary to drink, so she carried him in her arms and headed to the village. The people there did not receive her well, and they were hard-hearted towards her child, whom she was carrying in her arms. So the Virgin Mary suffered and returned sadly with the child Jesus without drinking. When Jesus saw her crying, he wiped her tears with his two small hands, then drew a circle on the ground with his finger. Then, Saint Joseph the carpenter got up and took a piece of iron, which was one of the carpentry tools that he brought to work in Egypt and support his family, and he hit the ground with it next to the tree in order to dig up the earth. Immediately, a sweet spring like honey and white as snow gushed out. The Lord Jesus placed His pure hands in the water and blessed it so that the souls and bodies of those who drink from it may be healed. From that time everyone who came and bathed in the water of this well on this day every year would be cured of all his diseases.
The miracle of al-Hamra water spring in Wadi al-Natrun
As they passed by “Mount El Natrun” in the south of the wilderness of Sheheet or al-Esceet, the divine child and his mother, the Virgin Mary, blessed this place, and later it became populated with monasteries and monks. And it was said that the divine child addressed his mother saying, “Know, my mother, that there will live in this desert many monks, hermits, and spiritual fighters, and they will serve God like angels.”
While they were there, the boy became thirsty, and Joseph the Carpenter searched for water, but he found nothing but a lake of salty water, so the boy extended his pure hands in the salty water, and a single spring of sweet water emerged from the midst of the salty water.
