How to cause rain and thunderstorms. Conspiracies to control weather phenomena. To stop the rain and bad weather



From the letter:

“Farmer Leonid Fomich is writing to you. Several years ago I bought land. I have many children, and I realized: in order to get them on their feet, feed them, clothe them, put them on shoes and give them a decent education, I need to do something. I took out a loan, got into unimaginable debt, but circumstances arose that could ruin all my plans.

It can be very difficult in Kazakhstan if there is no rain. Drought is my enemy. I heard from my grandmother that fellow villagers went to one healer and she read some prayers. Soon after this they went heavy rains. Do you know these?

You cannot talk to anyone while casting the spell. The master who makes it rain must abstain from eating meat until the rain comes. The spell is read like this:

Heavy rains, torrential downpours,

Come here, get together.

Clouds, cover the whole sky,

Wash the earth with a shower,

So that Elijah the Prophet gets wet too.

Come down from the sky, water,

For the glory of God here.

The thunder thunders, the wind rustles.

In the name of God the Father, in the name of the Creator.

My words, every word come true,

Streams of heaven, pour out.

Key, lock, tongue.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

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Since ancient times, man has depended on rain. Even in our time, when there is no danger that the harvest will perish without heavenly moisture, we are even scared to think that summer will pass without rain. So don't be surprised that different peoples came up with strange and exotic rituals for calling rain.

In the old days, when the villages around Tartu needed rain, three men would climb the tall spruce trees in the sacred grove. One of them, in imitation of thunder, hit a pot or small barrel with a hammer; the second, in imitation of lightning, struck sparks from burning brands, and the third - he was called the “rainmaker” - sprayed water from a vessel in all directions using a bunch of branches.

On the island of Java, when rain was needed, two men began to whip each other with flexible rods and continued this until blood began to flow from their backs: the flowing blood symbolized the rain, which was now expected to spill onto the ground .

The people of the Egghiu tribe, in one of the regions of Abyssinia, in order to cause rain, every time in January entered into bloody fights - with each other, village with village - which lasted for a whole week. Emperor Menelik later banned this custom. This ban caused indignation among the people when there was a shortage of rain. The emperor was forced to give in and allowed the bloody battles to resume, but only for two days a year.

In August 2006, in northern Nepal, where rice is traditionally grown, not a drop fell from the sky during the monsoon season. The peasants tried everything: prayers, offerings to the gods, special religious services - but the sky remained deaf to their calls.

“...The tom-toms beat incessantly all night. Ju-ju, a professional miracle worker from a mysterious clan of initiates, sat motionless, facing east, whispering something inaudibly under his breath. Opposite him stood a naked young woman, her face covered with a thick veil. This was a “rainbender” from the neighboring Toma tribe, whom Ju-ju apparently invited to assist him at such an important ceremony. For some time, the spellcaster silently swayed to the beat of the drum. Then she began to conduct the tom-toms herself, sharply throwing up her hands at an ever-accelerating tempo and forcing the drummers to speed up the roll even more.

I looked at the sky and couldn’t believe my eyes: the whitish haze, barely noticeable in the evening, turned into a gray veil, which thickened and became heavier every minute. And the exorcist kept pushing and pushing the tom-toms, which lashed the clouds with machine-gun bursts. And the sky could not withstand such a cruel execution: the long-awaited rain finally poured from the low-hanging clouds.”

So describes English traveler Hugo Chateris describes a magical ceremony for making rain, which he observed in the 50s of the last century in Guinea. The same rituals have existed among many other peoples since time immemorial.

Last August, in northern Nepal, where rice is traditionally grown, not a drop fell from the sky during the monsoon season. There was something to despair about. The peasants tried everything: prayers, offerings to the gods, special religious services - but the sky remained deaf to their calls.

And then Nepalese women from the Kapilvastu region said that they know one ancient method that is used only as a last resort.

After this, about fifty peasant women got up at sunrise and performed an extreme ritual of making rain. They undressed, went out into the rice fields naked and began to cast spells known only to them. To the surprise of the journalists watching the spectacle, by the end of the day it actually rained over the fields of Kapilvastu!

One of the great "rain queens" of the Transvaal was Mujadji, an old woman whom even Rider Haggard had heard of. Many years after she was described in one of the writer's novels, General Smuts spoke of her as a woman who impressed him "by the strength of her character and subtle imperious manner - a woman who really was a queen."

The practice of making rain in the past existed in two forms. Church, as, for example, in Russia, when they used procession and prayer for rain. And sorcery, when rainmakers acted according to ancient pagan rituals.
Pagan methods of causing RAIN, especially rain at wells, were severely condemned by the church.

Rain making ritual - in many cultures, a ritual performed during drought to bring rain. Often accompanied by ritual dances and songs.

IN magical rites To induce rain among the Southern Slavs, ritual actions are performed by the priestesses of the goddess (six girls aged 12 to 16 years) - the Dodolitsy. They are decorated with wreaths, water is poured on them, and bread is offered to them. At the same time, the Dodolians sing, turning to the goddess with a request to send rain. Dodola (character of South Slavic mythology, goddess of rain, wife of the Thunderer)

"Dance of Dodola"

"Calling for Rain"

The Macedonians have preserved to this day the Dodola ritual, aimed at conjuring rain. The Macedonians sing songs that begin with a prayer for rain and then describe its fall.

Paparuda (Romanian: paparuda) is a rainmaking ritual of pagan origin in Romania, performed in the spring and during severe drought. The name comes from the name Slavic goddess Perperuny (Dodoly).

During the ritual, a girl in a skirt woven from vines and thin branches dances on the village streets, stopping at each house, and the owners pour water on her.
Paparuda

Kaloyan (Romanian: caloian) is a ritual of making rain in Romania, similar to paparuda. Mainly practiced in Wallachia and among the Greek Aromanians.

Kaloyan was performed during drought or when heavy rains. Young girls made several clay dolls, the main one of which was the “Father of the Sun” doll or the “Mother of Rain” doll, depending on the purpose of the ritual. This doll was decorated with flowers and buried according to traditional burial customs.

In western Bulgaria and eastern Serbia, a special ritual is known, performed during drought in order to induce RAIN: girls sculpted a clay doll named Herman (a male figure up to 50 cm in size with a hypertrophied phallus) and then, imitating burial, buried the doll on the river bank or thrown into the water, wailing: “Oh. Herman, Herman, Herman died from drought for the sake of rain.” In such mourning rituals, tears were magically likened to RAIN.

In the Zhitomir region, people also poured water on each other, saying: “As water pours on you, so that the rain pours on the ground.” This was done by the river or by the well. Sometimes they doused people who, according to popular ideas, had a special magical power: a pregnant woman, symbolizing the earth, a shepherd, as capable of influencing the heavenly “flocks” of clouds, a priest.
They often went to abandoned springs, cleaned them, pouring water on each other, causing RAIN. There were walks around the village, fields, and prayers at a well or river.
In Polesie they often poured poppy into a well, threw money, salt, garlic, blessed herbs, grains of wheat and rye, prosphora, etc., poured blessed water, scooped up all the water from the well, etc. Sometimes clay pots were thrown into the well, and in many villages of Polesie it was believed that the pot should have been stolen - from neighbors, foreigners or potters.
In the Gomel region they said: “Since there is no rain, we’ll steal a Jewish smoothie somewhere and into a well - bang! And they also say it will rain.” This method turned out to be more effective when the ritual was performed by a widow or when the pot was stolen from the widow. In the Chernihiv region, a pot of borscht was stolen from the oven and thrown into a well. The motif of borscht is characteristic of widespread children's songs about rain: “Doshchiku, doshchiku, I’m making it for the borscht.” Meni porridge, tobi borscht, shcheb ishov thick doshch”; “Go, go, plank, and water the potter.” Sometimes the stolen pots were first broken, and then the shards were thrown into the well.

Close to this method of inducing RAIN are the Bulgarian and Serbian methods of protection from “tile magic”: the products of labor or the tools for their production were stolen from the tile tiles and brick makers and they were all thrown into the water. This action was understood as the removal of damage (“blocking the rain”, which was allegedly caused by tile tiles. They, like potters, were considered to be the culprits of the drought due to their involvement in the element of fire (firing pots, tiles) and professional interest in dry weather (for the sake of drying their products).

In Polesie and adjacent regions of Belarus and Russia, to induce RAIN, they performed the ritual of “plowing the river”: during a drought, they plowed or harrowed a dry river bed, or simply dragged a plow along the bottom. Symbolic plowing could also be done directly in shallow water: in Surazhsky district they “chose beautiful girl at the age of 15, they stripped her naked, hung her with wreaths and forced her to harrow water in this form.” In our time, a similar method of causing rain was noted in the Grodno region: “Old women gathered, stole a plow from the collective farm yard, brought it to the river, just women. Some harnessed themselves, while others drove with a scourge.” Sometimes, instead of a river, they “plowed” a road or dug holes on the road, symbolically “opening” the water (Polesie).

Another method of causing RAIN, which was of a purely magical nature, was the destruction of an anthill. The anthill was raked with a stick, just as they beat water in a well; at the same time, the spreading ants symbolized and magically caused drops of RAIN. This method is known in Polesie and among the southern Slavs. The Serbs, raking out an anthill, uttered a special spell: “As many ants, as many drops!”

Indian religious texts describe an ancient ritual for bringing rain - a black animal had to be sacrificed.

Hindu holy sadhus recite mantras and prayers during the Varuna Yajna ritual to please the rain god at Sankara Mattham in Mumbai, India, August 26, 2009. 10 priests stand in water up to their necks for 4 hours and recite special prayers to bring about rain.

Similar agricultural customs among the Indo-Aryans and Slavs http://www.arcticland.veles.lv/zarubin/1969/index.htm

In Russia, Nikolai Ukolov, who lives in the Tambov village of Mordovo, disperses the clouds. To his unusual ability to control natural phenomena, many local residents are skeptical. However, if it starts to rain during a wedding or funeral, everyone runs to Nikolai for help.

Nikolai calls himself a healer and fortuneteller. His unusual abilities were revealed twelve years ago, when he saw the Mother of God in a dream. “She had a baby in her arms, and behind her was a pillar of red light,” says Nikolai. “I immediately realized that this dream was prophetic.” Since then, nature has become subject to Ukolov.

One day the head of the district administration asked him to provide good weather During the harvest, Nikolai kept his promise and received one and a half tons of grain and three bags of sugar for his labors.

The fall before last, Ukolov decided to test his strength in a large space. After Russian weather forecasters reported that warming was coming and the winter would be unusually warm, Nikolai decided to bring frost to the country. “I just didn’t calculate it a little,” the old man apologizes, “it was very cold”...

“My grandmother was still in the years October revolution I found a gleam with writing and a figurine of the god Perun, the patron saint of rain and thunderstorms, in the garden,” rain whisperer Lydia Stepanovna tells reporters from the Ukrainian newspaper Donbass. - After that, she became a real weather master, she could cause snow almost by clapping her hands. Then she passed on her secrets to my aunt and me.”

Rain spell ritual (shamanic).

This ritual is used to call rain. The ritual bowl with spring water should be placed in the open air overnight. During the night, the water will be saturated with energy and acquire special properties.
The next morning, you need to take the cup in both hands, raise it above your head and say:
I call upon the moisture of heaven
Get closer to the moisture of the earth,
To make it rain on the ground
And watered the green shoots!
If several girls participate in the ritual, then a small mystery can be held. Helpers should decorate their bodies fresh leaves and branches and turn to the shaman:
Mother Goddess!
Give us your juice.
Water us with your moisture!
Then the shaman must sprinkle on her assistants from the bowl and from previously prepared buckets. At the end of the ritual, sacrifices must be made to the elemental spirits and suitable incense must be lit. You can also summon rain through common snail, which is the personification of the Mistress of Rain. Find a snail in the forest, treat it with great respect. Dig a hole in your area towards the shade. Place a plate of water and fresh leaves in it and place the snail on the edge of the plate. At noon, approach the snail with a ritual bowl filled with water. Sprinkle water on the snail and say:
How I splash water on you
So are you, Snail - Mistress of the Rain,
Send long-awaited moisture to the earth!
Repeat this action many times. If it doesn’t rain during the day, then perform the ritual again the next day. Make sure the snail is comfortable in your area. After the rain, take the snail to the place where you took it from. Before leaving, thank the snail again.

It seems that this year we have a chance to check - and personally perform - all the ancient rituals and practices for summoning doja..) It is only clear that this no longer depends on any one priest or sorcerer - or even the Patriarch of All Rus'. Moreover, not all sorcerers will want to be bled for the sake of rain - “Dieri (Central Australia) causes rain in the following way. A hole is dug about 12 feet long and 8-10 feet wide. Above it is made of logs and branches a cone-shaped hut is set up.Influential elders of the tribe use a sharp flint to bleed two sorcerers, who are believed to have received special inspiration from the mura-mura.The blood dripping from their elbows falls on their fellow tribesmen huddled in the hut.At the same time, the sorcerers bleed they scatter handfuls of fluff around themselves, some of which sticks to the blood-splattered bodies of people, and the other swirls in the air. It is believed that blood symbolizes rain, and fluff symbolizes clouds... On the island of Java, when rain was needed, two men began to whip each other with flexible rods and continued this until blood began to flow from their backs: the flowing blood symbolized the rain, which was now expected to spill onto the ground... The Dieri also imagine that the ability to cause rain is highly possessed foreskin taken from young men at circumcision. " (J.J. Frazer, "The Golden Bough") Young men, take care of your foreskin!..))) We will need it again!...)
But in order to do without bloody sacrifices and without circumcisions, it’s better to work in a less painful way, with the whole world, as they say..) And the more volunteers join the rain dance, the better!


Golden Woman (Rain Dance) by Oleg Gurenkov
Even if you just jump, prance and shower yourself on your balcony - to the envy of your neighbors))) - the message to the universe will still be tangible. And what if the neighbors join in the fun, and even if everyone goes out into the yard, or even onto the street?..) It should work out! Today after sunset we will begin!..)

And who wants to prepare more thoroughly theoretically - please, some useful information. The main thing is to approach everything creatively!...) You can use a variety of rattles, rattles, whistles - because whistles are ritual objects, pagan magical instruments for “causing” wind or rain among the Slavs.
If someone has their own tam-tam or jaw's harp, that will do too! I'm going to use my sagat - small copper plates from oriental dances that are worn on the fingers.
Perhaps we will be able to reach Tlaloc himself - (Tlaloc) - “making one grow,” god of rain and thunder, Agriculture.

“Rainmaking ritual is a ritual in many cultures performed during drought to bring rain. Often accompanied by ritual dances and songs.

This is how it happens in India - all the photos are from here, there are also some - http://www.nm2000.kz/news/2010-06-28-28408

I like the idea - I can’t find such a large pan for myself, but there is something for the child to dip!..)


In the mythological story of the African Ashanti, the sky god Nyama placed the Frog as a watchman at a well where the water never runs dry. So whoever has pet frogs - ask them to seriously convey the request for rain to the God of Heaven..)

Caucasus
According to an ancient pre-Islamic Chechen belief, a reliable remedy against drought is a snake. To make rain, the Chechens killed and hung snakes. In popular belief, the crow was also considered a messenger of bad weather, so in order to cause rain, it was necessary to destroy the crow's nest.

The Balkars had rituals associated with “making rain,” which were accompanied by special songs and dances. Before the start of the action, the Balkars dressed a wooden shovel in women's clothing. This stuffed animal was called “Kurek biyche” (“Princess Shovel”). Then two teenagers took “Kurek Biche” by the arms and began the procession. Other teenagers followed them. Stopping in the courtyard of one or another house, the participants sang a song:

Princess Shovel, we ask for rain!
The rain keeps pouring down,
Bread grows abundantly,
With the help of Allah, the Great Allah,
We all left very friendly
To ask Tairy for rain.

Macedonia
The Macedonians have preserved to this day the Dodola ritual, aimed at conjuring rain. The Macedonians sing songs that begin with a prayer for rain and then describe its fall.

Polesie
During a drought, the inhabitants of Polesie mourned the mythical drowned Makarka, stirring the water in the well with sticks and crying: “Makarko-son, get out of the water, spill your tears over the holy land!”

Paparuda - (Romanian paparuda) is a rain-making ritual of pagan origin in Romania, performed in the spring and during severe drought. The name comes from the name of the Slavic goddess Perperuna (Dodola).

During the ritual, a girl in a skirt woven from vines and thin branches dances on the village streets, stopping at each house, and the owners pour water on her.
The text - if anyone can pronounce it correctly, I think the result is guaranteed...)
Paparudă, rudă,
Vino de ne udă;
Paparudă, rudă,
Vino de ne udă;
Ca să-nceapă ploaie,
Să curgă şiroaie
Cu găleata, leata
Peste toată zloata:
Unde dă cu maiul,
Să crească mălaiul,
Unde dă cu sapa
Să curgă cu apa.
Hai, Catrino să sărim,
Paparudele,
Că ştii iarna ce păţim,
Paparudele,
Ca pasărea prin copaci,
Paparudele,
Ploaie multă să faci,
Paparudele.

Adus de la ""

(Kvilinkova E. “Pipiruda” - the Gagauz ritual of making rain // Proceedings of the Comrat University. - Comrat: 1999)

Kaloyan (Romanian: caloian) is a ritual of making rain in Romania, similar to paparuda. Mainly practiced in Wallachia and among the Greek Aromanians.

Kaloyan was performed during droughts or heavy rains. Young girls made several clay dolls, the main one of which was the “Father of the Sun” doll or the “Mother of Rain” doll, depending on the purpose of the ritual. This doll was decorated with flowers and buried according to traditional burial customs.

Tatars
During the ritual of making rain among the Tara Tatars, the mullah cut the throat of a ram and prayed for rain with several of the oldest and most revered old men in the village. Sheep meat was cooked in a cauldron with water over a fire and eaten until last piece. After the meal, the lamb bones were buried in a clean place. At the end of the ritual, all the residents went to the river and poured water on each other, thereby showing the spirits that rain was needed.

Ukraine
In the north of the Zhytomyr region, the drought was explained by the fact that some woman in the village of Annunciation, contrary to a strict ban, was baking bread. Then, in order to atone for this sin and cause rain, three women gathered, each took two buckets of water, went to the house of the “culprit”, poured out all the water in the middle of the house and doused the outside corners of the house, and in some places doused the woman herself.

In the Zhitomir region, people also poured water on each other, saying: “As water pours on you, so that the rain pours on the ground.” This was done by the river or by the well. Sometimes they doused persons who, according to popular beliefs, had special magical powers: a pregnant woman, symbolizing the earth, a shepherd, as capable of influencing the heavenly “flocks” of clouds, a priest - as the same symbol of the shepherd-shepherd.

Pouring water on girls in Hungary - however, this ritual occurs in the spring.

Among the Old Believers - according to the article by Mironov-Shapovalov N. “The ritual of making rain among the Old Believers of Transbaikalia” (based on materials from the 90s of the 20th century):

"The Semey crosses, like cemeteries, are located on hills (prayers/sacred rites on mountains or hills are a tradition dating back to the times of veneration pagan gods, in particular, Perun, “disposing” of heavenly moisture). On Ivan Travnik, the ritual of making rain is performed as a complex, and age regulation is observed in the methods: the older generation visits the cemetery, where they water the graves and/or pray (this process does not have a strict temporal reinforcement: “They rained on Kupala before that, drought if goes, shower yourself. Then the grandmothers went and watered the cemetery" (written by Leonova M.P., born 1934, Nikolskoye village, Mukhorshibirsky district, 2000)); young people - dousing themselves, bathing; children splash/douse themselves and perform chants. On Midsummer's Day, the multifunctionality of the water element is manifested in the variety of rituals in which water is involved. Its protective properties are used when, before the time of domination evil spirits The yard and outbuildings are sprinkled with blessed water. And the ritual of bathing/dousing is sometimes used not only in the context of imitative magic, but also as one of the forms of cleansing “after the revelry of witchcraft.” Ritual invocation heavenly moisture and bathing occurs before Ilya's day.

Source -
And many more interesting ways at my beloved Fraser - -
Specifically taken from here, thank you Dancing_Witch
Let's experiment!..) Together with regular sorcerers and instead of them...

Humanity has depended on rain for its entire existence. If there is precipitation, then there will be a good harvest, but if there is a drought, then there will be a time of famine. That is why every nation has one or more ways of causing rain.

Moreover, this does not necessarily have to be somehow connected with shamanism, pagan rituals and black magic - to combat drought you do not need to sacrifice an animal to a deity or jump with a tambourine, performing shamanic dances.

Is it possible for an ordinary person to make it rain?

Yes, there are several ways to make rain that each of us can do.

Rite 1 – on the street

Go outside with a hammer, a sheet of metal and a water bottle. Find a smooth stump, place a sheet on it and start hitting it with a hammer, thereby simulating the sound of thunder. Then start throwing water out of the bottle in different directions, which, in fact, will symbolize the falling rain. As a rule, after this ritual, precipitation appears no later than 24 hours later.

Rite 2 – rain using a natural reservoir

To make rain after a long drought, go after sunset to any body of water with natural water(that is, a pool in the yard or a bathtub in the house will not suit you). Strip naked and go into the water up to your neck. Say it three times:

“Water, water, I miss you. Life without you is not sweet to me. Save me quickly, don’t let me die.”

Then wash your face and hair with water. Fill a vessel (a bottle of water), go ashore, get dressed and return to your home. Leave the bottle on your doorstep after uncorking the cap. Early in the morning (at sunrise), take a bottle of water and spray it on your personal plot(on beds with dry soil that desperately need rain). If this is happening in the city, then climb onto the roof of your house (if you have a balcony, then that will do) and pour the water out of the bottle. This will help make it rain after 48 hours.

Rite 3 – shamanic dances

To cause rain with the help of dance, purchase an item called “the sound of rain” in any esoteric store - it is a closed wooden tube with grains (usually buckwheat) poured inside it. When you turn the tube over, the grains spill out, making a sound very similar to the sound of rain.

If possible, connect the hose you usually use to water your garden to the water tap and extend it outside. Well water the path leading from your house to the gate so that puddles form. Dress in all white and take off your shoes. Start dancing barefoot through the puddles, holding the “sound of rain” in your hands and turning it over every now and then.

Rite 4 – per plant

Pick some plants and flowers from your garden that have become victims of drought, that is, completely and irrevocably dried out. Weave them into a wreath. Go to the river, throw the wreath into the water and say:

“My seven-flowered flower died, died without water, dried up without rain. “Swim, little wreath, to a distant land, to a land rich in water, and ask for the water to come and visit us.”

In the summer calendar of the Old Believers of Transbaikalia, an important ritual element is the ritual of making rain. Consisting of several structure-forming stages, the ritual can be performed at different time intervals, depending on the unfavorable weather conditions. Ritual actions of asking for heavenly moisture are carried out both in a complex manner and can be reproduced in parts throughout the entire hot period.

Materials from expeditionary research in the 90s allow us to agree with G.V. Lyubimova’s statement “about the desire to give occasional rainmaking rituals a regular preventive calendar character by assigning them to certain dates folk calendar"(3, p. 58). Part of the ritual is performed on the Transfusion, when the older generation goes to pray at the cross with icons (which happens not only on Christian holiday, but also spontaneously during a severe drought): “Today we had the Melting, we went to pray on the cross” (note from Ivaylovskaya S.S., born in 1941, village of Desyatnikovo, Tarbagatai district, 2000).

Semey crosses, like cemeteries, are located on hills (prayers/sacred rites on mountains or hills are a tradition dating back to the times of the veneration of pagan gods, in particular Perun, who “disposes” of heavenly moisture). On Ivan Travnik, the ritual of making rain is performed as a complex, and age regulation is observed in the methods: the older generation visits the cemetery, where they water the graves and/or pray (this process does not have a strict temporal reinforcement: “They rained on Kupala before that, drought if goes, shower yourself. Then the grandmothers went and watered the cemetery" (written by Leonova M.P., born 1934, Nikolskoye village, Mukhorshibirsky district, 2000)); young people - dousing themselves, bathing; children splash/douse themselves and perform chants. On Midsummer's Day, the multifunctionality of the water element is manifested in the variety of rituals in which water is involved. Its protective properties are used when, before the time of the reign of evil spirits, the yard and outbuildings are sprinkled with blessed water. And the ritual of bathing/dousing is sometimes used not only in the context of imitative magic, but also as one of the forms of cleansing “after the revelry of witchcraft.”

The ritual invocation of heavenly moisture and bathing takes place before Elijah's day. The fact that open reservoirs in the period from Ivan Kupala to Ilya’s day are most suitable for swimming (under the previous strict standards, swimming can only be done during this time period: “Previously, they didn’t swim before Ivan and there was strictly a swimming pool from Ivan to Ilya” (approx. from Varfolomeeva A.M., born in 1928, Nikolskoye village, Mukhorshibirsky district, 2000)) is associated with mythopoetic ideas about the water element and the temporal segment. The reason why you can’t swim after Elijah is in one of the options written down in p. Nikolskoye, Mukhorshibirsky district, it sounds like this: “I know that my grandmother always said: “Ilya has come and you can’t swim, the deer has already wet its antlers.”” (note from Leonova M.P., born in 1934). The ban includes the image of a deer, which is found among the Semeis in a ritual game noted by F.F. Bolnev in winter calendar. The parallels in the most important solar cycles are not accidental, since the deer is a creature associated with the sun. The solar symbolism of this animal, according to A. Golan, is associated with a myth dating back to times more ancient than the Bronze Age that “the sun moves across the sky on the antlers of a wonderful deer, which is chased by a creature of the underworld, which at the end of the day overtakes the deer, why sunset occurs and night comes" (1, p. 39). Deer antlers lowered into the water symbolize the cessation of summer solar activity, therefore, swimming is also limited (apparently, the origins of some prohibitions go back to the times of worshiping the sun as a totem).

The sacredness of the temporal segment ( calendar holidays usually confined to important agricultural periods, which in turn are based on solar or lunar rhythms), facilitates communication with ancestors, on whom the sending of rain may depend. At the highest level of communication, from which it is possible to “directly” address otherworldly forces there are the closest “intermediaries” between the world of the deceased and the earthly one - old people who play a special role in the process of communicating with the dead in the Old Believer tradition throughout the entire calendar cycle (for example, it is customary for elderly people to be served baked goods and/or money on parental days). During the drought period, the action side of the ritual is watering the graves, walking up the mountain, etc.; the verbal component - prayers for rain, appeals to ancestors and Christian saints for help (lamentations, sayings) are made by people of the older generation. Pagan worldview (the request of the ancestors for the sending of good) is the reality of today's life of the Old Believers of Transbaikalia.

In the dry summer of 2000, the Semeis of Tarbagatai, Mukhorshibir and other regions of Buryatia asked for life-giving moisture for their fields and vegetable gardens. In some cases, a request was also made to the newly deceased (the timing of the calendar is not required): “She died - there was a walk, but when they buried her, there was no: “Fenya, well, take care of it, send us rain, not for our sake, for the sake of the babies.” "" (notation from A.M. Kravtsova, born in 1929, Nikolskoye village, Mukhorshibirsky district, 2000). The deceased, who became an ancestor immediately after death, is able to influence earthly life and the processes occurring in it. In the structure of small genres, in particular in proverbs, the image (in particular, the image of the deceased) to which the addresser refers is the basis of the narrative system; in further construction, the formulas of ritual folklore are used. The most common in the ritual of making rain are small folklore forms, where every word is significant and has a spell-like potential. A folklore word is a special category that “provides storage and actualization of cultural memory” (5, p. 64), included in the ritual field it “acquires a kind of reality, as if materialized - the narrator risks calling out the character and events described in the work (or consciously it does)" (5, p.66).

The word is endowed with the properties of fideistic communication, the opposite of interhuman communication (a kind of conversation with the other world). Invoking heavenly moisture, the mediator uses a verbal text that can activate heavenly and earthly forces, therefore affecting the deep layers of human consciousness that preserve archaic symbolism. Small folklore forms combine sign systems, having Christian and pagan semantic levels. In the petition to the Prophet Elijah, a religious symbol of world order, there is an archaic image of the Mother of the damp earth (“help mother damp earth"(3, p. 58)). The desire to appease it by sending moisture arises from the idea of ​​the earth as the personified foremother of all living things, providing food for her children. In the modern views of the Old Believers of Transbaikalia, as people directly connected with this element, dependent on it fertility, land is still among the most important values.

The core of the verbal component of the ritual is a request-appeal to the highest hierarchical level at which Christian saints are located, and since the religious worldview is alive with the idea that order on earth and in heaven depends on them, in the overwhelming majority of cases the Old Believers of Transbaikalia appeal to Ilya the Prophet, performing the functions of pagan Perun. Indicated in proverbs as a priest (“Father Ilya, wet our fields” (3, p. 58)), the image of a formidable master of the elements (“Ilya seems to be in charge of the rain there” (written by A.I. Medvedeva, born in 1919 ., village Tarbagatai, Tarbagatai district, 2000)) acquires the qualities of a generic ancestor. Understanding the image of Elijah as an ancestor is continued in the lamentations addressed to the saint: “Oh, merciful Father Elijah the Prophet,/Look at us sinners,/May you help us sinners” (note from Medvedeva A. I., born 1919, village Tarbagatai, 2000). Goloshenie, usually built “on a story about the deceased, memories of him” (4, p. 131), moves from the area of ​​family-ritual folklore to calendar-ritual folklore, the story about the deceased is replaced by a request-incantation, while the melody and partially the structure are still preserved traditional lamentations. The recorded text correlates with the second link of the votes for the deceased - “crying-notification”. But a different purpose of the verbal component dictates the choice of images and stylistic devices. In contrast to the actual lamentations, in the voice of calling down rain, in addition to the main image, there is a pleading side, characterized by the iconic noun “sinners.”

The internal potential of the petitioner allows him to conduct a conversation with higher powers and thereby draw the saint’s attention to his troubles (“Look at us sinners, / Yes, help us sinners” (note from A.I. Medvedeva, born in 1919, with Tarbagatay, 2000)). Awareness of oneself as sinners, therefore, droughts, as punishment for human sins, force one to turn to Ilya repeatedly throughout unfavorable weather conditions: “I’ve been crying for a long time and can’t get over it” (note from A.I. Medvedeva, born in 1919). The lamentation involves the clichéd formula “not for us, but for the babies,” which, with a small degree of variability, is cross-cutting in the genres included in the ritual of making rain (with the exception of children’s chants). The symbolism of the cliché, entering into the antithesis of sinners - babies (that is, sinless), is intended to intensify the impact on the addressee in the form of deceased ancestors or a Christianized thunder god in order to save pure souls from disaster. In the genres considered, a folklore word capable of “materialization” is one of the ways of fideistic communication (communication with the other world).

It is characteristic that most often these are small folklore forms or laments, consisting of one or two main units. Obviously, this is required by the specifics of the ritual situation, which consists, as Neklyudov S.Yu. writes, in the fact that “in some parallel chronotope there is another reality, which is actualized in the process of performance. To prevent such actualization, so to speak, to soften the manifestation potential of the sounding text, there is a system of prohibitions and rules, if you follow them, the execution stops “working.” To avoid unpleasant consequences the text is deprived of its typical beginning and end; only one content is presented, after which it ceases to be equal to itself. The text loses its integrity, and, consequently, its isolation and structural completeness" (5, p. 66).

Ritual verbal elements reflect the belief in the magical significance of the word, its ability to influence earthly processes through communication with another world. In rainmaking texts, the meditative function of the poetic word becomes paramount. The role of the questioner of moisture in the summer is identical to the role of a mediator between worlds in Christmas fortune telling(the only difference is age status). It is no coincidence that the subsequent actions of the ritual are called divination by the Semeis: “They bewitched the rain, ran in. Well, pour yourself over” (notation from Efimova U.V., born 1936, village of Tarbagatai, 2000). It was customary to take a bath from a river or a well, drawing water in buckets. The whole village can participate in this ritual stage, but with a predominance of young people. In the youth part of the ritual there is no verbal component; the magic of the word is filled with the magical power of the water element. Signs of imitative magic, based on the law of similarity, manifest themselves in an attempt by the actions of a collective (community) to realize what they want. By imitating natural phenomena, and in mythopoetic awareness, performing divine functions on the earthly level, man, as a part of the Universe, himself participates in space process, which attracts the attention of higher powers and contributes to the speedy improvement of the situation.

The ritual of making rain turns into general amusement, and the performance of magical functions is transferred to children who perform chants. The ritual word in the mouths of the younger generation does not lose its incantatory character and is also actualized by the fact that children comprehend the purposefulness of the verbal element - the request-incantation of the heavenly waters. The figurative series of chants includes: a) religious and mythological characters (God, Elijah the Prophet, the water king); b) abstract natural phenomena (rain, clouds). The semantics of religious and mythological images contains a mediating function, having realized which, the character carries out one of his beneficial missions - the supply of heavenly moisture (the process takes place within the framework of communication - an appeal from a person entails a response from higher powers). Main role in these cases the king performs: “Tsar, king, orphan, / Open the gates / With a key, a lock, / A silk handkerchief” (folklore materials of the KFN VSGAKI). An image from children's rain spells (the king) performing a sacred rite, he is also a character of the conspiracy (the water king), from the plot-thematic subgroup with the “semantics of the “main action”: “destruction by water” (2, p. 28) of diseases and ailments. Obviously, calling rain is a request to heal Mother - the earth from an illness - drought through life-giving moisture. The conspiracy origins of the chant manifest themselves through the universals of the material world. These include gates, which are thought of as a barrier, only after the elimination of which will it rain.

This plot theme of spell texts A10 (2, p. 42) is typical for children's chants. As in conspiracies, the barrier can be opened with the help of a key. In a ritual context this sign acquires the semantics of destroying boundaries. In some versions of the chants, along with a pagan character, the following appear: the Christian ruler of the water element - “Ilya the Prophet, help” (written by A.I. Medvedeva, born in 1919, Tarbagatai village, 2000) and the personification of heavenly moisture - "Rain, rain, let it pass." The combination of three figurative levels at the moment of communication activates the word-action in order to obtain an immediate result. In calls with a different figurative composition (when a request for rain is addressed only to natural phenomena (actually rain, clouds)), there are no attributive universals of the material world. The text is extremely simplified, which indicates its later origin. Magic function the word does not disappear completely, but is gradually leveled out. The communicative situation loses its fideistic nature (the connection with the other world is lost).

The content is filled not with incantatory formulas, but with the usual requirement to water the surrounding space: “Clouds, clouds, / Gather in a bunch, / Water the mushrooms in our little forest” (folklore materials of the KFN VSGAKI). The genre composition of the verbal texts of the ritual of making rain is diverse - from small folklore forms and children's chants, to lamentations that have passed into the sphere of calendar-ritual poetry. But due to the ritual specificity (the performance of the ritual only depending on weather conditions), the verbal components were not affected by the tendency of the texts to “move” according to the cycles of the calendar (as happens, for example, with Trinity songs, which can now be performed by family songs and on other holidays), and the archaic semantics of imagery and symbolism is recognized by the Old Believers themselves.