If You See Me, Then Weep

Some days I write for myself and on others I write hoping it will be read and remembered. Passing along information, having a voice, reaching out to others: all of these have spurred on communication with our fellow citizens of this Earth.

Maybe first around a firelight, showing the progress of a great hunt? Perhaps danced to portray the mighty wind and waves? Written on papyrus and carefully rolled into hide coverings to protect from the sun and sands until rediscovered years later? We use our voices and pass along our messages.

Recently. the news has highlighted European writers that found a way to pass along their clear written warnings over 100's of years through Hunger Stones along the Elbe and Rhine rivers.

Hunger Stones mark dates when serious droughts occurred; the kind that cause famine and plague. The earliest stone known is dated 1511 but damage from visitors and ships have have worn away much of the message.

What message would you write for those in the future undergoing agricultural and economic hardship? Here are some of the messages from those long ago voices.

Messages

On the Elbe River in the Czech Republic the solemn warning in German that struck me the hardest is translated to "If you see me, then weep", dated 1904. This same hydrological landmark has many other dates which were carved during the years it appeared due to the shrinking waterline.
One such addition was made in 1938 and the sentence "Girl, don't weep and moan, if it's dry, water the field" suggests that 300 years after weeping was suggested the locals had no time for such sentiment.
In Decin a fatalistic prediction is "We cried- we cry- and you will cry".

The Elbe River flows through Germany, too, and it contains many Hunger Stones with dates as early as 1681. In the city of Pirna one rock has at least 15 dates carved into it from 1707 to 2015.

The stone in Bleckede isn't dated but the thoughtful carving gives hope with the message "When this stone goes under, life will become colourful again"

Cycles

Periods of drought and famine ran in roughly ten year cycles in Europe from 1315 until 1800. Farming was done by hand with only the assistance of hand forged plows and tools, and the muscle of the farmer's family, oxen, and horses. Crop yields are smaller than they are with modern agricultural tools and irrigation. When a farm lost 25-30% of its crop the family had no where to go to supplement their winter rations.

Northern Europe experienced The Great Famine from 1315-1317 when lack of food caused 12% of the population to die. Those that lived struggled to purchase the food available because the prices for their main staples of oats and wheat spiraled beyond the reach of the majority of the population.

Lower water levels impact more than growing crops and watering livestock; as the rivers shrink in their channels navigation becomes more difficult due to exposed rocks and shallow waters.
Importing food and other supplies grows more difficult as the possibility of incoming ships and boats dwindle.

The last extreme drought and most recent sighting of the stones was in 2018, and many of the Czech stones bear the new carving commemorating that. These messages and dates are again appearing in central Europe because water levels are once again sinking to those record low levels when previous generations spent parched days carving warning, admonitions, and predictions into the rock that lined the shrinking sources of hope.

Are these cyclical droughts just part of living on earth, or are they marking a slow change to our climate that is hastening due to the interference of mankind? What do you think?