Rain Rituals

Victoria Romano

Lit 211B- Sympathetic Magic

04/11/2016

According to Merriam-Webster.com, Sympathetic Magic refers to a primitive or magical ritual using objects or actions resembling or symbolically associated with the event or person over which influence is sought. The main goal behind Sympathetic Magic is that a person can be affected by the magic, using something that represents them. This type of magic taps into an emblematic ordering of the world, where disparate objects and ideas can have unexpected correspondences, and new potentials. Magic, of this kind, reflects the order of our lives, even as it seeks to gain mastery over that order. An example of ancient sympathetic magic is rain rituals, when the priest creates a miracle by tapping into the magical world and ends the drought. Whereas in modern day, miracles are no longer happening due to the advances in technology that gives people the opportunity to have rain whenever it is needed.  

Rainmaking was connected with sacred rituals held by priests to cure them of the drought. In some cases the priest inherited through long ages the rainmaking and is often implore to exercise them. While some of these rites suggest the use of magic by the folk themselves, priests knew that the only way to produce rain was by using Druid Magic. Priest’s go to the fountain of Baranton parading, singing hymns, and pray for rain. The priest then dips his foot in the water, or throws some of it on the rocks. Another myth that the priests believed was that a virgin in the nude, should clean out the sacred well used in the rainmaking miracle process. In time of drought the girls of the village followed the youngest virgin in a state of nudity to seek the herb belinuntia. The image of a saint is carried to a well and aspersed or the waters are beaten or thrown into the air. During this time, this was the only way to cure them of a drought. It was a miracle that the priest created to ensure the people and nature that rain could be created by magic/miracle.

Unlike folk survival rituals, modern day rain rituals are scientifically determined, rather than considered a religious miracle. In California, rain is very rare; farmers suffer while attempting to maximize their crop quality, due to the lack of water fall. Water stress affects more tree and crop development processes during the early season, from leaf, out through shoot growth, and development of terminal and lateral buds. During this time, for example, farmers can tell whether or not they are going to have a successful year in producing almonds. Nuts undergo a rapid growth phase early in the growth, and development periods and are very sensitive to water deficits during this time. However, trees can tolerate drought stress fairly well during the two months prior to harvest, allowing the farmer to optimize the use of irrigation strategies. But when post-harvest arrives, the farmers begin to stress about the water deficits, because it affects the pre-harvest water deficits, and the quantity of water use over the remainder of the season. If there is severe stress during this period, bud differentiation will greatly decrease, and the nut count for the spring season too will be greatly affected. Water deficits occur when the climatic water demand exceeds the water absorbed by the roots. As the soil becomes weakened of readily available moisture, water uptake by the roots lags behind water use, causing plant stress in the mid to late afternoon. More so, as soil water becomes increasingly troublesome to infuse, water stress increases.  Since rain is limited in this part of the country, farmers have come up with a scientific technique that benefits their crops and is an alternative for rainfall, rather than relying on spiritual rituals, any longer.  Such dependencies were the norm years ago, prior to cohesion of science knowledge and facts, peppered with infrastructure manipulation of irrigation. This technique is called, irrigation water, which is the artificial application of water to land or soil. It is used to assist in the growing of agricultural crops, maintenance of landscapes, and vegetation of disturbed soils in dry areas, and during periods of insufficient rainfall. Farmers do not rely solely on this technique, but it is greatly recommended, especially in California. Other sources of water available to almond trees and crops overall within arid climates, include: soil-stored moisture, which contains frost protection water applications, if the root zone is less than field capacity when applications are made, and certainly, any in-season rainfall absorbed by the soil. According to the University of California, mature conventionally spaced almond trees, in the Southern Sacramento Valley, can use about 41- 44 inches of water within an average year of unrestricted water use. A lot of water is needed in California, considering the facts stated above, therefore California has also begun producing a small amount of desalinated water, that was once sea water, but is now purified. Artificial rain has become a successful scientific technique used by famers in California to maintain hearty crops, instead of hoping for a religious miracle with rainfall.