Weird rain-seeking customs around the world
In order to alleviate the drought, in addition to implementing artificial rainfall, in some agricultural-oriented countries and regions, people also pin their hopes on traditional rain-praying rituals, and hope that through these mysterious and strange rituals, the sky will send rain...
China: Pretending to fight with dragons In traditional Chinese culture, the Dragon King is in charge of rain and water, and worshiping dragons and praying for rain has become a folk custom scene. Tujia people in western Hunan have many ways to tease dragons for rain. They think that there are always some dragons who love to be lazy and go out to play in the mountains and rivers, which leads to drought in the world. Tujia people who also believe that "dragon and snake are one" aim at snake-wizards let villagers collectively dispatch to search for small flower snakes all over the mountains. If they catch them, they will "capture Dragon God" and put them in nearby caves to cast witchcraft, so they can imprison them. There is also a way of praying for rain in Yunnan, China, called "Laoluo Spring". It is to put a red-hot iron into a well and burn it. The dragon in the water will be unhappy if it is disturbed, so it will come out to make trouble, and then it will rain. Of course, there are many customs related to "offering sacrifices to dragons and praying for rain", which I will not describe one by one here.
in Yunnan, China: The seventy-year-old "Dragon Mother-in-law" dances dragon and prays for rain at the Longwang Temple in Agulong Village, Songming County, Yunnan. More than 20 old ladies wrapped in black turbans danced a colorful dragon amidst the sound of gongs and drums to dazzle people. These old ladies with an average age of 72 are the "dragon mother-in-law" who pray for rain from the Dragon King. The custom of praying for rain is very popular in many places in China. Folk traditions generally believe that the drought is caused by offending the Dragon King. In order to obtain the Dragon King to grant rain, a series of sacrificial and prayer rituals in various forms are held to pray for rain, such as livestock offerings, sacred statues and statues traveling to the countryside, and symbolic performances to punish droughts.
China Taiwan: Officials kneel three times and kowtowed nine times to pray for rain from the gods. In Taiwan, it can be said that "there is no god everywhere, and there is no god without worship." The Jade Emperor, Mazu and Avalokitesvara Bodhisattva are considered to be "universal gods" with boundless Dharma power. They are "effective" in treating diseases, praying for children, eliminating disasters, blessing, and praying for rain. Many water conservancy officials in Taiwan once held a rain-praying ceremony at the Tianhou Palace in Kaitai, Anping, Tainan. Each hand kneeled three times and knocked nine times to pray for rain from the sky to the gods such as Mazu, Narcissus King, and the Dragon King of the Four Seas. In 2002, Taiwan's Hsinchu area suffered a long drought. Hsinchu Mayor Lin Zheng personally stepped onto the stage to pray for rain and knelt for 40 minutes.
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: Being a cat abuse maniac Thailand is an agricultural country with rice as its staple food. Rainfall is very important for the growth of rice. Because it is near the equator, droughts often occur, and rain-praying rituals emerge one after another in various districts, with diverse changes. In a typical rain prayer ceremony in central Thailand, people use bamboo cages to pick up female cats and march through the village (Thais believe that the female cat's cry is very charming and can attract rain). People sang and danced while carrying the cage. When villagers at home hear the song, they will take out a prepared bowl of water and water it on the cat, causing it to shout and pretend it is really raining. Because of being criticized for abusing cats, Phra Pradesh, northern Thailand, replaced the cat in the cage with a Doraemon (the robot cat in the cartoon) when praying for rain in accordance with the custom.
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Japan: Park staged an ultra-effective rain-praying ceremony According to the Japanese Yomiuri Shimbun website, on June 16, 2013, a rain-praying ceremony was held at the Water Source Park in Tanohara, Kika-cho, Shimane Prefecture, Japan. Twelve men carried a 10-meter-long "giant python" woven with straw on their shoulders and flew up and down in the big snake pond in the park. There is a thousand-year-old fir tree growing by the snake pool. Legend has it that the dragon god lives on the tree. When a straw "big python" comes to disturb it, the dragon will rise to heaven and rain will fall. During the ceremony, when people put the "big python" on the big fir tree, the sky actually began to fall, which shocked the audience.
: Villagers whip each other for rain In order to pray for rain, not only are women beating each other, but men are also busy. A cruel ritual called ujungan is popular in some arid areas of Indonesia. Villagers use flogging to pray for rain from the sky. Although the flogging was painful to them, they never flinched, and some even laughed and danced. During the ceremony, accompanied by music and drums, the villagers twisted the tendons of palm leaves together to make ropes, and flogged each other in the presence of witnesses and excited people. The bloodshed caused by the flogging was regarded as a sign of praying for rain and pleading for grace.
India: Farmers lie half-naked outside the temple praying for rain Every hot summer, farmers in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand state in eastern India, hold a strange ceremony-lying half-naked outside the temple with sticks in hand, praying for rain, good luck and health. There is a custom of praying for rain in many places in India. Whenever there is a drought, farmers will adopt various methods to pray for rain. In Bihar Province in northern India, some farmers asked their unmarried daughters to plow naked so that the irresponsible "meteorological god" would wake up in embarrassment, send rain, and save local drought elephants.
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India: Making a matchmaker for frogs In some areas of India, frogs are considered to be psychic animals. They can keenly sense the approaching heavy rain and then make strange calls to help humans crack a gap in the sky and let down rainwater. So in Takhapur, a remote Indian village, holding weddings for frogs has become a custom that has been passed down for many years. At the "wedding", the villagers applied some orange dye to the two "newlywed" frogs and put on colorful wreaths. Under the witness of many "friends"(villagers), a big kiss would be complete. After the "wedding", the two "newlyweds" will be released to a nearby creek for their honeymoon. In India, the same type of rain prayer ritual occurs in different regions, but the protagonist is replaced by donkeys, buffaloes, etc.
Texas, USA: Unique rain-praying techniques. There is no custom of praying for rain passed down from our ancestors. The people of Texas use their unique wisdom to create a new way of praying for rain. The story takes place in 2012. The weather conditions in Texas, United States are not very satisfactory. Summer temperatures have entered too fast, and there has been no rainfall for a long time, so that some outdoor activities such as BBQ and fireworks displays have been cancelled. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was at a loss. He told reporters at the White House that he would kneel on his knees every day and pray for rain. If he knew that he could pray for rain or dance for rain, he would definitely do it.
The people of Texas were very depressed, as were the church staff. So American netizens photographed such a rain-praying technique while passing by a small town: it is said that it was specially made by the local church to encourage people to pray together for the arrival of heavy rain. It is so simple, rough and intuitive, and Xiaobian expressed his admiration.
In fact, as early as 2007, Georgia, USA, launched a rain-praying movement that spread across the state-hundreds of people held rain-praying concerts in Atlanta churches. Even Governor Perdue personally stepped forward and led a group of civil servants to hold a rather grand rain prayer ceremony on the steps of the state government building.
Mexico: Women in small towns fight each other, shed blood, pray for rain, Mexican traditions are not as "cute" as Thailand. Every May, women in the village of Nahua, Guerrero, Mexico hold a fight competition until they beat their opponents half to death. These women don't seem to care if they win, they just want to collect more blood. The fighting would continue until dark, and then everyone hugged each other and helped each other home. Blood from the competition will be collected in buckets and then watered the land. Villagers believe that this weird ritual will bring rain and give them a bumper harvest.
Zimbabwe: Talk to your ancestors. Zimbabwe's traditional rain prayer ceremony is called kukumbira mvora. The ceremony was conducted by psychics who believed that drought was always associated with certain sins and tried to communicate with wise ancestors what needed to be improved and sought God's forgiveness. The person presiding over the ceremony wears black robes to represent dark clouds, and some people will prepare some millet in advance. The host went to a sacred mountain, poured millet into cracks in the rocks, then knelt down, and reported it layer by praying to his ancestors, praying for the creator to have mercy on mankind and send rain.
: Dancing Rain Dance When Indians pray for rain, men and women in the village will dress in traditional costumes and wool headdresses, arrange in several rows, sing rain songs while dancing in a zigzag manner. These customs are well preserved among the mainly agricultural Indians. In 2014, after enduring California's three-year drought, Indians held a public rain prayer ceremony in the seaside park on the outskirts of Mans Buchanan. In fact, the Indians are very clear that the purpose of this public performance ceremony is not entirely whether it rains, but also to gain widespread attention from the government and society, obtain some help, and raise people's awareness of saving resources and protecting the earth.