Just for Rain: The Ritual of West and East!

In every part of the world there are different traditions, culture and certain rituals whether it is West or East, both of them have their own traditions and culture that they practice according to their respective belief.

Since the dawn of mankind, human beings all around the world have made some rituals for rainfall. The most famous example is about the Indians, one is red-Indian while the other is South Asia Indian. Each one represent West and East respectively. The community of the red-Indians have been destroyed by the Englishmen many years ago, so that makes them the past while the people of India are a rising economy that makes them the future. But both of these Indians do almost the same thing for rainfall in the months of drought to please their rain gods.

Native Americans – Just Dance for the rain

Native American performs "Rain Dance"

What is rain dance?

A rain dance is considered as a ceremonial dance performed by men and women of the tribe to try to invoke rain to protect the harvest especially in the month of the droughts. Rain dance was also very deeply followed by Ancient Egypt. It was mainly found in the people related to the agricultural or gardening cultures of the tribe or community.

How it is done?

Feathers and turquoise are worn during the ceremony to symbolize wind and rain respectively. Many traditions of the Rain Dance are passed down through history by oral traditions. The men would have long hair waving in the ceremony and the women wore their hair in a special tribal wrap at the sides of their heads. The mask that the Indian men wear is a mask with a turquoise strip that stretches from ear to ear across the face of the mask. Then the bottom is a band of blue, yellow, and red rectangles. A fringe of horsehair hangs from the bottom which covers the throat and three white feathers hang from the top of the male mask. The women’s mask is somewhat similar but instead of a turquoise stripe, theirs is white and they do not have the rectangles on the bottom or the horsehair. The women’s masks also have goat hair around the top and an Eagles feather hangs over their face. The men also have their bodies painted up by tribal standards and wear special beads and they wore a fox skin hung behind them and also a silver bracelet and white apron type cloth. They also wore turquoise moccasins. The women wore a black dress and no parts of their bodies were shown except their bare feet. Then they wore a bright-colored shawl with one black and one white shawl over that. Then they all lined up and performed the Native American rain dance in hopes of bringing the rain that they desperately need.

Modern day – Rain dance

Evidence on how each rain dance was performed is passed down through oral tradition, and the fact that some Native Americans keep these rituals alive today. Although many rain dance costumes appear in museums, some are actually worn by modern-day tribes’ people during ceremonies or are kept as family heirlooms. The rain dance is still an important part of Native American consciousness.

India – A frog wedding!

Unusual wedding, which you will not see every day!

What is a frog wedding?

A frog wedding is very popular tradition in the Indian states of Assam and West Bengal while Bangladesh has also started following this tradition.

How it is done?

Following an ancient Hindu belief, the frogs’ heads are smeared with vermilion paint and the pair are held up in the air in a ritual in front of a traditional clay candle. Villagers organize these wedding ceremony when the region is suffering a water shortage. People represent the bride and the groom, also people attend this ceremony by wearing their best outfit. Guest is usually served a traditional wedding feast of rice, lentils, fish, beef and sweets. The bride and groom wear special wedding dress and after the wedding both the frogs are released in a nearby pond. It is believed that after the wedding is held, one or two days later it rains.

Is it only India?

India which is famous all over the world for its superstition made headlines again in 2009 (a period of severe drought) when many villages in eastern India celebrated the frog wedding. In 2009, more than 250 people in northern Bangladesh attended a wedding ceremony between two frogs as part of a ritual to bring rain to the parched region.

What is the point of all these rituals?

Water, air, fire and earth these are the elements that are considered to have created this world, one always remains high while the other is bound to remain low. But it the water that is the most important form of live on the planet, it is water due to which species have a friendly atmosphere, we might not see it but it water that runs live on Earth without water the planet is as dry as any other planet in the milky way. Water has significant importance in the society whether it is the developed nation or just a under-developed nation all need water to rise. Don’t believe it?

Water falls on the planet in the form of any kind of precipitation through process of evaporation and condensation. Rainfall plays a very important role in the life cycle of the planet. About 914 trillion liters (914,000,000,000,000 L) or 241,450,000,000,000 gallons of rainwater falls on the earth every single day with most being pouring in the open oceans. So these rituals are done only for water and we should respect the culture of different societies!