Writing
13 Ways of Looking at Rain
Created in fall 2021 for ENGL 138 (Introduction to Creative Nonfiction)
1.
Heat from the sun evaporates the H2O from plants and bodies of water into vapor. The vapor rises and cools, condensing into water droplets and creating clouds. As the water droplets move around in the cloud, they combine and form larger droplets. When a droplet becomes too heavy, it falls to the ground as rain.
2.
In Greek mythology, when mankind took the gods’ gifts of food for granted, Zeus, god of the sky and the weather, became angry and punished mankind with a famine. By the fifth year, the food storage had run out, so mankind prayed. In return, Zeus gave mankind rain.
Later, despite their parents’ long-standing feud, Orestes, son of Zeus, and Calandra, daughter of Hades, married. In retaliation, Zeus banished Orestes to the mortals and imprisoned Calandra in a cage high above the sky so that the two could never be together again. Ever since, whenever Calandra thinks of her husband and cries, her tears fall to the ground as rain.
When the Oracle of Delphi prophesized that the only child of King Acrisius, a daughter named Danaë, would one day have a son who would kill him, the King imprisoned Danaë in a bronze chamber under his palace. An infatuated Zeus transformed himself into golden rain and streamed through her chamber roof and into her womb, impregnating her.
3.
“And rain fell upon the earth forty days and forty nights.”
– Genesis 7:12
4.
Rain itself has no scent. But moments before a rain event, a fresh, earthy smell does permeate the air. The smell is known as petrichor, a word coined from Greek petros, meaning “stone,” and ichor, meaning “the fluid that flows in the veins of the gods.” Bacteria in soil decompose organic matter into a molecule called geosmin, which is noticeable even at extremely low levels. Human noses can detect just a few parts of geosmin per trillion air molecules.
During a prolonged period of dryness, the decomposition rate of the bacteria slows down, and so does the formation of geosmin. But just before a rain event, the air becomes more humid and the ground begins to moisten, speeding up the process and forming more geosmin. When raindrops fall on the ground, they splatter, and the geosmin is released in aerosol form and carried by the wind to surrounding areas.
Geosmin could also be related to terpenes, the source of scent in many plants. Rain breaks dry plant material, releasing chemicals in a similar way to when you crush dried herbs: the smell becomes stronger. Very dry periods may also slow down plant metabolism, with renewed rainfall giving it a kick start and causing plants to release a pleasant scent.
5.
The Japanese language has over 50 nouns to describe different types of rain. There’s rain showers, weak rain, light rain, fine rain, misty rain, heavy rain, intense rain, downpour, localized downpour, chilly rain, rain and snow, rain at night, spring rain, and two words for early summer rain, as well as autumn rain.
The Japanese design troupe Nendo chose 20 of these words and artistically captured each in a water bottle. They used clear acrylic bottles to create delicate dioramas to illustrate the different types of rain.
Left: mizore (霙), rain mixed with snow. Middle left: niwaka-ame (俄雨), a sudden rainfall. Middle right: kisame (樹雨), rain that falls off tree branches. Right: shigure (時雨), autumn rain.
6.
The gutter, 3000 BC, Indus River Valley. The umbrella, 1000 BC, Egypt. The rain gauge, 1441, King Sejong. The rain boot, 1817, Arthur Wellesley. The raincoat, 1823, Charles Macintosh. The windshield wiper, 1903, Mary Anderson. The radar, 1935, Robert Watson-Watt. The automotive rain sensor, 1958, General Motors. The disdrometer, 1967, Jürg Joss and Albert Waldvogel.
7.
251 EXT — FIELD — NIGHT (1966)
Rain is falling in solid sheets. Shawshank is half a mile
distant. BOOM DOWN to reveal the creek…and PUSH IN toward the
mouth of the sewer pipe that feeds into it.
RED (V.O.)
Five hundred yards. The length of
five football fields. Just shy of
half a mile.
He wades upstream, ripping his clothes from his body. He gets
his shirt off, spins it through the air over his head, flings
the shirt away. He raises his arms to the sky, turning slowly,
feeling the rain washing him clean. Exultant. Triumphant. A
flash of lightning arcs from horizon to horizon.
8.
The Hopi and Navajo, Native American tribes located in modern-day Arizona, performed a rain dance in August every year, when droughts were most severe, to stimulate rain. The Cherokee, who believed that raindrops were filled with the good spirits of the tribe’s past chiefs that battled evil in a transitional spiritual plane when it rained, performed a rain dance to induct rain and cleanse evil spirits. Outfits were often garnished with turquoise, a symbol of rain.
The Aztec had ceremonies, called Tozoztontli, dedicated to Tlaloc, the god of rain, at the end of the dry season in March and April to assure abundant rain during the growing season. Child sacrifices were the most common of these ceremonies. Their crying was beneficial for obtaining rain because their tears, strictly connected with the Tlalocan, were pure and precious.
The Lovedu people, located in the Limpopo province of South Africa, are exclusively ruled by a dynasty of Modjadji Rain Queens. When an old chief’s daughter, Dzugundini, gave birth to a daughter named Modjadji, meaning “ruler of the day,” the gods gave Modjadji the ability to control rain. Ever since, the Rain Queen’s powers have transferred to her daughter at death.
9.
As right as rain. Come rain or shine. Saving for a rainy day. Raining cats and dogs. Rain on someone’s parade. Take a rain check. When it rains, it pours.
10.
11.
“It was just like a living hell. After a while, it began to rain. The fire and the smoke made us so thirsty and there was nothing to drink. People opened their mouths and turned their faces toward the sky to try to drink the rain, but it wasn’t easy to catch the rain drops in our mouths. It was a black rain with big drops.”
“I suddenly remembered a shower of black rain… Thundery black clouds had born down on us from the direction of the city, and the rain from them had fallen in streaks the thickness of a fountain pen… However many times I went to the ornamental spring to wash myself, the stains from the black rain wouldn’t come off.”
12.
Rain, rain go away
Come again another day.
Rain, rain go away
Little Johnny wants to play.
13.
The rain began again. It fell heavily, easily, with no meaning or intention but the fulfillment of
its own nature, which was to fall and fall.
How sad the rain must be. A lifetime spent falling.
Do not be angry with the rain; it simply does not know how to fall upwards.
Sometimes we rain on our own parade just by failing to rein in our emotions.
Like a bird singing in the rain, let grateful memories survive in times of sorrow.
The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.
Look at the rain long enough, with no thoughts in your head, and you gradually feel your body
falling loose, shaking free of the world of reality.
Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing
you a lullaby.
Feel the rain on your skin. No one else can feel it for you, only you can let it in.
Why complain when it rains? This is what it means to be free.
Nature looks more beautiful in the rain.
A single gentle rain makes the grass many shades greener.
Give thanks for the rain in your life which waters the flowers of your soul.
Those who hate rain hate life.
Rain is grace; rain is the sky descending to the earth; without rain, there would be no life.
Into each life some rain must fall, some days must be dark and dreary.
After the rain, the sun will reappear. There is life after the pain. There is life.
I want to know, have you ever seen the rain?