Like any important historical location in Lebanon, QadishaValley continually receives its share of treasure hunters. However, this location in particular, which is rich in grottos(presumed to be hiding places for treasures) attracts evenmore than others. This thirst for gold has not spared the village of Hadath.
It is narrated that some years ago, a psychic predicted thata treasure of “seven jars of gold” (note the number 7) was hidden in Asi-l-Hadath Grotto. Caught up in this “yellow fever”, a villager began searching there but in vain: apart from a few bones, he found nothing. This belief in thepresence of the jars in the grotto was so ingrained in the villagers’ minds that after Assi el Hadath mommies discovery, rumors that we had found the treasure spread like wildfire, and they imagined that it was the jars of gold we were carrying in our backpacks.
Gold fever is still present among the native inhabitants. To this day, the shepherds tell stories on this subject, especially those concerning the “treasures” hidden in grottos. One of te sheperds
told us verbatim:
«There is the valley of gold;I saw with my own eyes gold falling like rain; but the“raçad”
(the supernatural guardian of treasures, according to tradition, which can take human or animal forms)
was so powerful that when the gold touched the ground, it evaporated. Looking for the treasure in the Grotto, I was also hampered by the “raçad” which morphed into a giant serpent and prevented me from finding the gold»
.For some, ritual magic, even at the risk of being bloody,remains the most effective recourse to discovering gold incave
