Rain, Frogs and Rituals

    It was a beautiful day today, know why? It rained. It wasn't just a sprinkling either. It was pouring. I heard it before I saw it. I had just woken up, going into the next room, I thought it was an illusion. I mean, I wasn't fully awake yet -not much of a morning person- but let me tell you when I looked outside, I couldn't stop smiling. The petrichor and the pitter patter was like a soothing balm on burnt skin.

    I am like parsley. I will wilt above 29°C. Now you would be right to call me dramatic but I can't help it, rain has that effect. Soon enough all the rain led me to thinking about rainmaking rituals performed by people of the past, sometimes carried through tradition and are still followed today. There are fascinating cases of it all over the world. I went ahead and did a little reading up on a few of them. But before I delve into what I found, I must talk of something that I recalled amidst all this.

    I watched a Korean drama a while back called '100 Days my Prince'. It's a historical drama set in Korea during the Joseon Dynasty. The Crown Prince in this drama is blamed for the drought ravaging the kingdom. That it is because he hasn't consummated his marriage with his wife that there is no rain. With all this pressure from the ministers he decrees that if that's the case then all the single people in the kingdom have to get married. The tale that ensues is set off with this decree. It is quite an entertaining watch and I just wondered if something like that actually happened in real life. Searching it up I found that that part was fictional but I think my search provided an even better result. 

    Two words. Frog Marriage. It originates in Assam. Two frogs are chosen, cleaned, sometimes made to wear tiny bridal attires made just for them, adorned with flowers and after they are wed, they are released into a pond. This tradition has spread to other parts of India as well. How wholesome is that? It is called Bhekuli Biya which is Assamese for frog marriage. I think this piece of information has made my day. Sadly though, even frogs cannot escape divorce. Two wedded clay figures of frogs were made to divorce in Bhopal, in hopes of quelling the floods in 2019. 

    Moving on to other traditions, in India there is the Varuna Yajna where a priest immerses himself in a barrel of water and chants the name of the water deity, Varuna a 1000 times. In Japan the Suneori Amagoi ritual occurs in the Saitama prefecture, where they carry a massive dragon through the streets made of bamboo and straw decorated with leaves invoking the deity to bring them rain. Certain Native American rituals involved rain dances, the Guajiro tribe shot arrows at the clouds in hopes of piercing one and spilling rain. Hae Nang Maw is practiced in Cambodia and Thailand where they carry around a cat in a procession with water being poured over it. Nowadays the cat has been replaced with an effigy of one, sometimes people taking the place as well to avoid animal cruelty.

    These are but a few of the numerous practices out there. A lot of these arise out of agricultural need. Being something that is heavily reliant on the rains. These rituals have seen their decline over the years, with the rise of modern innovations, which is perhaps for the best. However, honouring the past in this way, to celebrate how far we've come is no sin. It keeps memories alive and promotes cultural growth and enrichment.

    I'd like to end today's findings with another about a majestic bird that I often see around campus. Sometimes I hear the thumping of their feet when they're nearby and everything is absolutely still; the peacocks. Now I've been told that they dance in the rain. Perhaps it's just me but today I realised they actually don't. I did wonder how they would hold up their feathers with the weight of the water. It turns out that they run and hide when it rains. However, this thought arises from the fact that their mating season aligns with the monsoon season in India. They dance before the rains but not during it. Well, who knows, perhaps they too are performing a little rainmaking ritual of their own. 

 

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