Cultural Celebrations of Water

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Cultural Celebrations of Water
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People of many cultures of the world have long
honored the importance of water to their lives in
folk tales, celebrations, and prayer ceremonies.
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The Tonle Sap (Great Lake) Celebration of Cambodia

• A 3 day celebration with boat races when the
  waters of the lake flow backwards into the Mekong
  River.
• The races are to make the god of the river happy
  so that there will be plentiful fish and good
  rice crops. Attended by up to a million people.

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• For many countries in Southeast Asian, the Water
  Festival is an annual event celebrating the
  connection of water in all aspects of life -
  food, agriculture, spirituality and economic
  prosperity.
• Water has always represented prosperity, life and
  goodness to the Southeast Asian people.

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• Buddhist scripture explains that the Water
  Festival is held to thank the spirit of the
  water, to pray for evil spirits to go away, and
  to honor the Dragon King who dwells in the water.
  
• The Water Festival is a time to be thankful for
  the rivers, lakes and ponds that villagers depend
  upon for their livelihood and economic
  development.

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Throwing or splashing water on other people is
part of many Southeast Asian Water Festivals.
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• Being sprayed with water by passing elephants is
  part of the water festivities as well.

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Rain Celebrations and Prayer Ceremonies are
particularly common among cultures where the
environment is dry or rainfall is sporadic.
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• In Lesotho, when drought
• threatens, the men say a
• prayer for rain by going on
• a hunt (molutsoane) and
• as they leave the village
• they sing a mokorotlo (war
• song).
• For women the main
• activity is the rain
• game.

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• When drought threatened, women and
• girls from one village would "steal" the
• Chief's lesokoana (a stick used for
• stirring food) from a neighbouring village
• and run home with it in relays. At some
• point a tug-of-war with women from the
• original village would ensue, as they
• tried to retrieve the lesokoana.

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• The idea seems to be that, as the
• women ran with sweat from all the
• running and tugging, the gods would
• take pity on them and release rain
• rather than sweat, to soak into the
• parched ground.

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• In Limpopo Province of South Africa, a new
• Rain Queen was crowned in 2003. The
• crown has been passed down in her family
• for centuries.

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• The Rain Queens line began when a princess
• of Zimbabwe fled her fathers court. With her,
• she carried the potions and secrets of making
• rain and medicines to protect her against her
• enemies. These powers were passed down
• through her family line, and her granddaughter
• was crowned the first Rain Queen, Modjadji.
• The last queen was Modjadji VI and there is
• currently no reigning rain queen since her death
• in 2005.

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• On the dry plains of Mongolia, ceremonies are
  held to ask God for rain. Sprinkling water on
  the silk ribbons tied to the post, a woman makes
  her offering during the rain ceremony.

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Many Native American tribes have ceremonies and
celebrations related to water and the importance
of rain.
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In many cultures, including the Native American
tribes, it is common to try to imitate the sound
of the rain or use rain symbols in the ceremony
in order to make the rain come.
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The Hopi Kachina Dancers wear sashes decorated
with small shells to imitate the sound of the
rain.The head-dress of the White Cloud Kachina
is stair-stepped, representing thunderclouds.
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• In some cultures, wet stones are thrown into
  the air to simulate the falling of rain and to
  cause the rains to come.
• Branches of certain trees may be dipped into
  water and shaken in the air to simulate rainfall
  as well.

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South American and Mexican Indian tribes used
rainsticks in prayer ceremonies to bring the
rain, and also as musical instruments at
celebrations.
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The original rainsticks were made from cactus
stems. The needles were removed and pushed back
into the stem and the stem was left in the sun to
dry. Small pebbles or shells were added to make
the sound of rainfall as they fell through the
rainstick, striking the cactus spines.
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Enjoy the sounds of the rainstick used as a
musical instrument as you make your own
rainstick.