rain
Climate Change Affects Ladakh
A news report on The Weather Channel website last week summarized evidence showing that global climate change is starting to destroy the cultural heritage of Ladakh. Though not all Ladakhis agree with the causes of the destruction, historic structures are being weakened and destroyed by the changing weather conditions. In order to cope with increasingly […]
It’s No Longer Raining on the Lepchas [journal article review]
Global climate changes are having an impact on the Lepchas, who are quite aware of the local disruptions of weather patterns and are trying to cope with them. A journal article by Shukla et al. that was published last year reported the results of a careful study of the Lepcha in the Dzongu Reserve of […]
Storms over Tristan
On Friday April 14, 90 mm of rain (about 3 and 1/2 inches) fell on Tristan da Cunha, causing minor flooding. According to a news post on the Tristan website by the Administrator, Sean Burns, the storm cut an important roadway. The storm evidently surprised some Tristan Islanders, who told Mr. Burns that they had […]
Paliyans Implore their Gods for Rain
A Pongal in India is normally a three or four day festival in which rural people express their gratitude to the sun for a bountiful harvest. But among some of the Paliyans of southern Tamil Nadu State, a Pongal expresses their desires for good rains. The Hindu last week published an article that provided some […]
Paliyan Rain Ceremony
A most interesting new video that shows a Paliyan rain ceremony conducted by an elderly priest in a remote settlement of southwestern India has just been put up on YouTube. Entitled “Rain Invoking Ceremony (Mazhai Pongal),” the careful, scholarly presentation, almost ten minutes long, shows the Paliyan people and their priest conducting a ritual that […]
