Many of us love playing in the rain, the smell of it, the happiness that we experience when the trees dance along with the wind, the pit-a-pat sound when it hits the ground and the thrill that goes down the spine when the raindrop hits the face or the palm of one’s hand. But, most of us love rain just because it brings us hope and happiness whenever we need it. Not to mention, all the holidays we get because of rains during our school days, and I wish from the bottom of my heart that we get in the future too. Behind these happy and not so happy moments remain the untold mysteries and secrets of rain that have baffled human beings for centuries.
The monsoon season in our country is usually said to be from June to mid-November, but because of global warming and other climatic conditions, the monsoon season in India changes from year to year. These days, it’s raining cats and dogs in Chennai and I don’t know whether to be happy that I have an irregular Wi-Fi service because of it and use it as an excuse to escape from the online classes or be sad that I can’t take notes as the semester exams are nearing. On another note, have you guys wondered why we use cats and dogs in the idiom for heavy rains, and not any other animals? That’s because the cats and dogs have a great impact and influence on the weather. Surprising isn’t? Well, I was surprised too.
According to Germanic mythology, the dog and the cat were both attendants of the storm god, Odin. Name ringing any bells? In ancient Nordic myths, the cat was the symbol of pouring rain and the head of the dog was the symbol of the strong winds that accompany a rainstorm. And that’s how we got cats and dogs in the idiom.
The mysteries, myths and secrets don't end here. There are myths and legends which talk about strange kinds of rains. But it doesn’t stop with legends and it is more common than we might think. Coloured rain, fish rain, toads and frogs rain, acid rain, money rain, blood rain and many other strange rains can be found even today. “Still more peculiar rains reported over history have included hay, snakes, maggots, seeds, nuts, stones and shredded meat (that last one is suspected to have dropped from a boisterous flock of feeding vultures),” author Cynthia Barnett noted in her book, Rain: A Natural and Cultural History. She also referred to an account of a shower during which golf balls fell in Florida, which potentially linked to a tornado passing across a golf course.
According to Latin folklore, a substance known as the Star Jelly, a gelatine substance assumed to be the residue of falling or shooting stars, was known to have fallen along with rain, though the researchers have a different opinion about it. They claimed that it was some type of algae which turns into a jelly-like substance when atmospheric moisture is added.
On May 3rd 2004, residents living in Florida reported that strange bugs rained down and that they were thin, long, black and 3 to 5 inches in diameter. The Florida residents weren’t the only puzzled ones, something similar has also happened in our country, India, on July 15th 1957 in Kerala. The residents of Wynaad were shocked to witness a blood-red rain pouring on them. Later, it was found that the rain has been coloured by airborne spores from a locally prolific terrestrial alga.
On February 9th 1856, live fish rained down in Glamorganshire, Wales. A similar incident happened a century later in Marksville, Louisiana on October 23 1947, this time on a larger scale and some of the fish were reported to be frozen! Once, a rain of toads poured in France which lasted for nearly two days. Scientists suggested that these rains could be the result of the tornado that happened a few days before the peculiar rainfall. This argument couldn’t be justified as rainfall similar to these were reported even when there was no tornado or typhoons or hurricanes that happened anywhere during the period of the strange rainfalls. Heraclides Lembus, a Greek philosopher who lived in the second century B.C., wrote: “In Paeonia and Dardania, it has, they say, before now rained frogs; and so great has been the number of these frogs that the houses and the roads have been full of them.” The Yoro village in Honduras celebrates the annual Festival de la Lluvia de Peces (Rain of Fish), to commemorate the rain of small, silvery fish that allegedly happens at least once a year since the 1800s. Quite fishy isn’t it?
Rainfall didn’t leave mark only in history or nature, it played a vital role in religion and culture. Strange rainfall was also recorded in religious texts like the Bible, where the manna rain is seen in the Book of Exodus. In most polytheistic religions, there is a deity for rainfall, thunder and storm. In Greek mythology it is Zeus, in Hindu mythology, it is Varuna, in Aztec mythology, it is Tlaloc and in Bantu mythology, it is Nomvula. Sometimes there are rain deities for each country and for each village. The people had a lot of respect and fear for the rain deities in all religions, countries and villages.
An amazing myth that I have heard is that if we spot the end of a rainbow and dig the ground there, we might discover a pot of gold. The next time you spot a rainbow in the sky, try to find the end of it. Good luck!
Antonette Riana C.
19/UELA/020
This was a delightful piece. Nice job Riana!
So informative! Great work :)