Rainmaking (ritual)

A rain dance is a ceremonial dance that is performed in the hope of triggering rain, in order, for example, to ensure the next harvest.

Different types of rain dance can be found in all sorts of cultures, whether in ancient Egypt or Native Americans. Even in the 20th century, the Balkans a rain dance ritual called Paparuda ( Romanian ) or Perperuna ( Slavic ).

The tribe of the Cherokee Indians from the southeast ( Appalachia ) of the U.S. caused by rain dances to induce precipitation and to ward off evil spirits .. The tribal legends state that the summoned rain contains the spirits of the former tribal leaders and that these evil between fight reality and the spirit world. The Cherokee were of the view that particularly elaborate rain dances the participants and the audience would enable to unusual and extreme acts of worship.

A history of the indigenous population of the United States reports on how the term " rain dance " was born. During the days of the Indian Removal various religious ceremonies, such as the Sun Dance and the Ghost Dance were banned by the government. The Windigokan, an allegedly cannibalistic sect, consequently became famous by they told the federal representatives, they would not be the Sun Dance, but the rain dance routine, and thus do not act unlawfully.

Julia M. Butree (a woman by Ernest Thompson Seton ) describes in her book among other dances of the aborigines and the Rain Dance of Zuni.

During the dance, feathers and turquoise were worn to represent wind and rain symbolic. The specific processes during the dance were passed on orally through generations.

Swell

• Cult dance
• Nature religions