1 Rainbows: Familiar and Fantastic
Just as most of us probably think we know what a dragon is even if we’ve never seen one, most of us surely think we know what a rainbow is. While we can’t point to a dragon, we can point to a rainbow (although, as will be seen, in most of the world’s cultures one is better advised not to do this!). What most readers might not appreciate is that this difference conceals the role of culture as a molder of human thought. To a physicist a rainbow is an optical phenomenon that can be entirely explained by physical law, with no relationship to human well-being. However, a moment’s reflection should convince most people that to a preliterate human, no matter how mentally capable, the rainbow is typically something quite different.
To make this point more forcefully a brief thought experiment will help. Let us travel back in time, say, at least 10,000 years, but possibly much further. This is actually a tiny fraction of human history, which arguably begins with the rise of the genus Homo over two million years ago, and of our own species, Homo sapiens, between 150,000 and 200,000 years ago (Fagan 2010:83 ff.). However, 10,000 years is enough time to place us before the discovery of agriculture, and of the consequent population increases leading to urbanization, and the literacy that followed. Our fully human counterparts 10,000 years ago were, in short, hunter-gatherers whose lives were governed by the daily food quest, and who passed on what knowledge they had through oral transmission in the form of myth and story.
On a typical day if you were male, you would be out hunting. If you were female, you would be gathering wild plants (probably with a companion). Let’s suppose that when you left camp the weather was showing signs of trouble, but was still good enough for you to go about the necessary tasks that consumed your every day. At some point, perhaps hours later, the heavy, darkening clouds reach a breaking point, and rain begins to pelt the earth, punctuated by flashes of lightning and the ominous rumble of thunder that terminates periodically in terrifying explosions overhead. You seek shelter from the storm, perhaps in a dense grove, a rockshelter or a cave. You wait, frightened and uncertain, praying to whatever spirits or deities you think might protect you. And then it stops.
The clouds part and the sun bursts through in all its brilliance while a light drizzle continues to fall. Out of nowhere there it is: a gigantic, dazzling, mind-boggling arc of brilliant color stretching across the sky from horizon to horizon, or at least as far as the local horizon will allow. What is it? Where did it come from, and where will it go when it suddenly vanishes? These are not imaginary questions: they are the basic questions that any intelligent creature faced with such an experience would inescapably ask. We know this because we are human, and all humans possess the same cognitive capacity, and the same need to understand the environment in which they live.
What answers might our hypothetical Palaeolithic ancestor have given to these insistent questions? We cannot go back in time to ask him or her, but we can ask modern humans, from sophisticated urbanites to surviving foragers, what they think the rainbow is, and through questionnaires sent to both academic colleagues and field missionaries who were asked to collect data in their field locations, I have done that for scores of surviving tribal societies over the past thirty-seven years in a large-scale ethnology of the rainbow. It is the pattern of responses to these questions, as well as reports in published ethnographies and travellers’ books that will be our most trustworthy guide to the past. As a footnote, it also goes without saying that I do not intend to imply by this manner of presentation that humans only began to puzzle over the nature of the rainbow in the late Pleistocene period. Rather, given the presence of sophisticated cave art well before 30,000 years ago (Chauvet et al. 1996), and burial of the dead by both Homo sapiens and Homo Neanderthalensis far earlier than this (Mellars 1996:366–391, Papagianni and Morse 2013:130 ff.) it seems far more likely that these kinds of questions would have been asked once a complex brain had evolved the capability to think of unseen spiritual forces.
In what follows I will downplay or ignore views of the rainbow as reported in a single culture. The well-known Mayan text Popol Vuh, for example, describes a belief that the rainbow is the “flatulence of demons”, an idea I have found nowhere else. Similarly, the Ijok Negritos of the Malay peninsula see it as a fishing line that the king of the dragons requires his servants to use to catch fish for him. Rather than focusing on such intriguing, but apparently unique beliefs, my intent is to present recurrent conceptions of the rainbow which have been collected from hundreds of sources, both written and living. Some of these are limited in terms of geography, or cultural or linguistic relationships, and a few are globally distributed, but one stands out above all others.
Before beginning the survey of how the rainbow is conceived in the world’s cultures, it will be well to warn the reader that the typical Western view of the rainbow within the Judeo-Christian tradition (thing of beauty, symbol of promise for a new beginning, etc.) diverges sharply from ideas about the rainbow held by most of humanity. The Western view of the rainbow as reflected in the Bible is summarized succinctly by Hastings (1908–1912), who points out that scriptural references to this topic are few, but invariably positive, reflecting the glory of God, God’s covenant with man after the Deluge, etc. Because of the cultural presuppositions that we all carry with us we tend to think of our views as ‘natural’—how could they be otherwise? But it is precisely this deeply-rooted ethnocentrism that has impeded progress in understanding the origin of dragons for generations. Most of the world’s cultures see the rainbow in a very different light from ours, and once the ethnology of the rainbow is taken seriously and these radically distinct views are understood the natural basis for the globally distributed belief in dragons becomes almost embarrassingly obvious.
It will soon become clear how cross-culturally aberrant the typical Western view of the rainbow is, but before entering into details it will be useful to show that widely divergent cultures found around the planet share certain conceptions of this phenomenon that are both similar to one another, and fundamentally different from those likely to be shared by most readers of this book. Four of these should be enough to make the point.
1.1 Philippines
Among the Isneg people of northern Luzon in the Philippines bunglún ‘the rainbow’ is “supposed to be a spirit. Its first appearance marks the beginning of the rainy season.” The derived word ma-bunglún ‘a swelling of the abdomen caused by drinking water that has been touched by a rainbow’, shows an unmistakeably negative character, as do ma-bunglún-ān ‘to die shortly after a rainbow has surrounded a house under construction. Said of the owner of the house in question,’ and pagbungbunglúnan ‘to inflict the disease of the rainbow’ (Vanoverbergh 1972:182).
1.2 Mexico
Similarly negative ideas about the rainbow are held by the Tarahumara Indians of northern Mexico, where it is called kino-ro (in the north-central region of their territory), or ko-nimi-ki (in the south-central area). No particular meaning appears to attach to these variant forms of the word other than the general sense ‘rainbow’, but we are told that
The rainbow is considered a personage who comes from the evil underworld or underground people, and which is of evil omen. It can eat or suck the blood from a Tarahumara without his or anybody else’s noticing it. When there is a double rainbow the bottom one is the woman of the one above. She is fat and therefore lovely and men like her, but should a man rimu-re (dream) of her, he will be childless thereafter (Thord-Gray 1955:960).
1.3 Africa
Two examples from Africa, where the ethnic groups are 3,500 miles apart and linguistically unrelated, show the same general pattern. In the first of these the anthropologist Wendy James, who was studying the Komuz (Nilo-Saharan)-speaking Uduk people of the Sudan, was taken to a place called ‘Silak’, where she visited quite an impressive cave and waterfall where a rainbow was said to live. “It was a hungry meat-eating Rainbow living in a cave with water” (James 1988:276). As though this description were not startling enough for someone raised to considering the rainbow an inanimate thing of beauty, or a symbol of divine reconciliation, she added features of its physical description that are eerily similar to attributes sometimes imputed to the dragon, namely its body was a curious hybrid, identified with the python, but having ears and a mouth like a camel (James 1988:297).
Elsewhere, we are told that the Bantu-speaking Zulus of southern Africa
also feared the rainbow, which they associated with snakes. It was said to live with a snake, or at least, one always appeared whenever the bow was visible. When it was seen with its end touching the earth, it was believed to be drinking from a pool. Sometimes it lived in a large pool, and men were afraid to bathe in such waters, for fear that the rainbow might seize and eat them. On dry land it poisoned any man it met, or afflicted him with disease (Hole 1995:2153).
More generally, with regard to southern Africa as a whole Werner (1933:231) states that
Africans have been struck not so much by the beauty of the rainbow as by its strangeness, and they nearly always look on it as malignant and dangerous. This may seem unaccountable to us, accustomed to think of it as the symbol of hope, and familiar with the lovely figure of Iris, the messenger of the gods. But it is a common belief that it stops the rain, and this is quite enough to constitute it an enemy.
The first thing to note about these traditional views of the rainbow in contrast to our more familiar one is that within the Western tradition the rainbow in inanimate—it is a physical entity without life. By contrast, at least the Isneg, Tarahumara, Uduk and Zulu see the rainbow as a living being, perhaps a spiritual or supernatural one, but nonetheless a creature capable of actions like any living being. The notion of a rainbow that can drink the blood of humans, or of a ‘meat-eating rainbow’ may seem bizarre or even ludicrous to those with different cultural backgrounds, but it is perfectly consistent with indigenous notions of the rainbow as a dangerous spirit animal. In this regard we must remember that to preliterate humans, who had no inkling of the physical basis of rainbows, much of nature, particularly anything unusual or striking, was animated by spirit presences. With respect to just one region of the Earth, for example, Métraux (1963b: 563) says the following, which could be repeated almost without change for the indigenous people of any other area on the planet:
Throughout South America natural objects and phenomena are personified or are believed to be the abodes or manifestations of supernatural beings. There is, nevertheless, considerable variation in the degree of individualization of these spirits, of their functions, and in the nature of their relationship with people.
As already noted, in 1871 the pioneering British anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor coined the term ‘animism’ to describe this once universal cultural phenomenon—a stage through which, in his view, all humans passed, and his description of it rings as true today as it did nearly a century and a half ago when he first proposed it.
Although animism is generally associated with societies that have a simple material culture, this is not invariably true. Shintō is an animistic religion associated with a culture of a high level of material, social and mental sophistication. Unlike many cultures that have abandoned animism after the advent of literacy and the shift to an urban lifestyle, Japan has maintained its animist tradition next to later introductions (Buddhism, Christianity, Westernization in general). Although what is often stressed most is the focus on a ritual connection between modern Japan and its ancient past, the fundamental tenet of Shintō is that all of nature is pervaded by spirits—a tenet that is shared with tribal peoples of much less advanced levels of culture.
We will see that some traditional societies also portray the rainbow as inanimate—for example, as a bridge between heaven and earth, or as the belt or loincloth of a deity. However, most tribal peoples see it as an animate being capable of action, often action that is menacing to humans. In what follows I will survey the range of cultural conceptions of what a rainbow is. In general, I have limited myself to cases where the conceptualization can be expressed by a noun: the rainbow is an ‘X’, where ‘X’ is something that can be counted or given a simple name (bow, sword, bridge, loincloth/belt/scarf, snake). However, there also are recurrent associations of the rainbow with certain traits (sign of blessing, sign of sickness, sign of coming war), and these will be treated separately in Chapter 7.
The evidence for how the rainbow is conceived consists both of direct statements from native participants in a culture, and of names for the rainbow, which often provide indirect information about conceptualizations which may have long since become unconscious.
2 Portrayals of the Rainbow
2.1 The Rainbow Is a Bow (Archer’s Weapon)
The first cultural representation of the rainbow, which is common among speakers of Indo-European languages, treats it as inanimate. This is the notion that the rainbow is an archer’s weapon.
2.1.1 Europe
In English we are largely unconscious of the fact that the rainbow was once conceived as an archer’s bow, and much the same is true of German Regenbogen (rain + bow), Danish, Norwegian regnbue (rain + bow) or French arc-en-ciel (bow-in-sky). This etymological blindness is perhaps intensified by the fact that the word for ‘bow’ in languages such as German or French also means ‘arc’, and this rather than ‘bow’ could be the primary reference, as it is in Finnish sateenkaari (sateen ‘rain, genitive case’ + kaari ‘arc, arch, curve’, literally ‘arc of rain’, a different word being used for archer’s bow).
However, as we go back in time, we find that the rainbow was transparently conceived as the bow of a weather deity, and was not simply a bow in the sky. In Vedic Sanskrit, some 3,000 years ago it was the bow of Indra (indradhanus), the Hindu god of thunder, storms and rainfall whose celestial chariot was pulled through the sky by the divine birds called ‘garudas’. It seems clear that this transparent reference to the rainbow as the weapon of a sky god preceded the ‘bleaching’ of the meaning so that for most modern speakers of English, German or French the last part of the word scarcely conjures up the image of a weapon any longer, let alone any association with a sky-god. However, the implicit association of a celestial bow with a deity has re-emerged in some languages. Although Latin pluvius arcus ‘bow of the rain’, lacked a sacred reference, for example, such references have developed in several of its descendants, including Catalan arc de Sant Martí, and Rhaeto Romansch arch San Martin ‘the bow of Saint Martin’.
The ancient Greek term for ‘rainbow’ is etymologically unclear, but Latin arcus meant ‘bow’, and, by the first century BCE also ‘arch’. Other Indo-European examples of the rainbow portrayed as an archer’s bow are: Old Irish túag nime ‘arch of heaven’, and fidbocc ‘bow, archer’s bow; rainbow’, and modern Irish bogha báistí (lit. ‘ring of rain’), where bogha is said to be from Middle Irish boga ‘bow, curve’, itself a loan from Old Norse bogi ‘bow’. Baltic languages reportedly use various forms made from the root of Lithuanian vérti ‘bend’, and a Common Slavic root meaning ‘arc’, ‘arch’ or ‘bow’ appears in Old Russian duga, Czech duha, Serbo-Croatian duga, and related words in other Slavic languages. Bengali ramdhanu ‘bow of Ram (a Hindu deity)’, modern Greek uranio toxo (‘bow from the sky’), and Albanian ylber < Proto-Albanian *ul(e)na bōra ‘forearm bow’ all show a similar pattern, although the latter has what may be a modern dialectal form brezi i Perëndise ‘the belt or girdle of God’, which is cited below.
The same conception underlies Maltese qausalla (da Qaus e Alla) ‘bow of Allah’ for the rainbow, where ‘Allah’ is the Arabic word for God, but here used in a Christian context (Alinei 1983:50). Finally, Classical Armenian uses the phrases aleln astowchoy ‘God’s bow’, and Aramazday gawti ‘bow of Aramazda’, the former reportedly of Christian inspiration, and the latter of Iranian inspiration (< Ahura mazda, the highest spirit worshipped in the ancient Persian religion of Zoroastrianism), although both of these may overlay an earlier conception in which the bow was present without reference to God.
Other examples are: Russian rajduga ‘paradise bow’, Italian arco baleno ‘dolphin’s bow’, arco bevente ‘drinking bow’, or arco di Noè ‘Noah’s bow’, and a Saami (Lappish) expression meaning ‘Tiermes’ bow’, where Tiermes is the god of sky, thunder, lightning, the rainbow, weather and the oceans (Alinei 1983:47).
This image of the rainbow as an archer’s weapon (originally the bow of a weather-god) is thus widespread among speakers of Indo-European languages—the family to which English and most languages of Europe and India belong. It also occurs outside this language family (as in Maltese or Saami), where it is far less common. Other known examples are:
2.1.2 Central and East Asia
Middle Mongolian qarbu-, Khalkha Mongol xarwa- ‘to shoot with a bow; rainbow’ seem to appeal to a concept like that behind most Indo-European words for the rainbow (Alexander Vovin, p.c., 9/24/17).
In China the rainbow is sometimes portrayed as a bow, especially an emperor’s bow or a god’s bow (Zhou 2001). However, this is rare in comparison with other representations.
2.1.3 North America and Mexico
Among the Catawba of South Carolina the word for ‘rainbow’ is uks-itchika. where uks is said to mean ‘rain’ (derived from huksoré ‘it rains’), and itchika ‘bow’ (Gatschet 1900:547).
In Ofo, a Siouan language once spoken in southern Mississippi, the word for ‘rainbow’ is ashoʹhi akạnạfpaʹạka, where the first element means ‘rain, to rain’, and the second ‘bow, semicircle, arc’ (Dorsey and Swanton 1912).
2.1.4 Africa
In Classical/Standard Arabic the word for rainbow is qawsu ‘l-nabīyi ‘bow of the Prophet’ (Baranov 1976).
The Kusaasi, Frafra, and Kasena people of Ghana “all connect the rainbow with the chameleon, which itself is an object of fear, to be avoided.... In Frafra and Kasena the word for ‘rainbow’ is ‘chameleon bow’ ” (Philip Hewer, p.c., 9/2/82).
In Swahili upinde wa mvua ‘rainbow’ = ‘bow for hunting’ + ‘rain’ (Rechenbach 1967). Given the status of Swahili as a trade language among Arabs and east African peoples for centuries the question arises whether this is an indigenous development, or a product of contact, but a similar metaphor in other Bantu languages suggests that this concept is native.
For the Ila people of Zambia and Zimbabwe the rainbow is named buta bwa Leza ‘the bow of Leza’, after a deity (Edwin W. Smith 1920:2:220).
Among the Ba Thonga people of Zambia and Zimbabwe we are told that “In some of the northern clans ... the rainbow is called the Bow of Nyandziyo. Nyandziyo is said to be a man of the olden times who made the rainbow; he dwells in heaven and the rainbow is his bow. He it is who taught men the use of the bow” (Junod 1927:2:312).
Despite this fairly widespread distribution, a little thought will show that the rainbow as an archer’s weapon is a poor candidate for how our hypothetical Palaeolithic ancestor probably conceived of the rainbow. Most obvious is the question whether a hunter-gatherer in this time period used a bow rather than a spear as his daily weapon for securing protein. The antiquity of the bow either as a tool in hunting or a weapon in warfare is unclear, but archaeological evidence for the use of spears far antedates that for the use of bows as this can be inferred from the discovery of identifiable artefacts relevant to either type of weapon. So far as is currently known, the earliest unambiguous evidence for use of the bow comes from discovery of bone arrowheads dated to about 61,000 years ago in Sibudu Cave, a rockshelter located in KwaZulu-Natal, on the east coast of South Africa about 25 miles north of Durban (Wadley and Jacobs 2004, Blackwell, d’Errico and Wadley 2008). The use of spears, however, has been traced back nearly half a million years at the site of Kathu Pan 1, far in the interior of South Africa (Wilkins and Chazan 2012).
This does not rule out the possibility that arrows without bone or stone heads could have been used earlier than stone-tipped arrows. However, in general the history of technology shows a movement from simpler to more complex forms, and the use of spears is simpler than the use of arrows in that they are cast by the human arm rather than by an intermediate form of propulsion. At some point in history, someone must have realized that a miniaturized spear could be hurled farther, with more force, and with less effort by flinging it forward with the springing action of a bowstring than is possible with the human arm alone (the atlatl, or throwing stick, can be seen as a compromise between the two types of propulsion). However, there are also other reasons for reaching this conclusion. The most important of these is the far more common distribution of other alternatives that will be considered below.
2.2 The Rainbow Is a Scythe, Sword, or Other Weapon of a Deity
In a number of languages, the rainbow is conceived as the scythe, sword, etc. of a deity. Again, it is associated with divinity, regardless of the nature of the cultural product with which it is compared.
2.2.1 Europe
Estonian vikerkaar is said to be from vikat ‘scythe’ and kaar ‘arc, bow, curve’, from Proto-Finnic *kaari ‘arc, bow, curve’. The exact concept here is somewhat hard to extract from the etymology, but seems closer to ‘scythe’ than to ‘bow’ (Guy Smoot, p.c., 9/26/17).
2.2.2 Insular Southeast Asia
Some Toraja peoples of central Sulawesi, Indonesia are said to think of the rainbow as the sword of a deity (Adriani and Kruyt 1950–1951:407).
2.2.3 Africa
The Minyanka of southeast Mali call the rainbow ‘the sword of God’ (Lucia Brubaker, p.c. from Edmond Dembele, 12/20/82).
To the Malagasy of Madagascar, the rainbow is antsiben andriamanitra ‘the sword of God’ (Richardson 1885, sub ántsy).
In both of these languages the characterization of the rainbow may be due to Arabic contact influence. Again, this is a poor candidate for a primordial concept of the rainbow, since it implies a knowledge of metallurgy, something that would not have arrived until far later in human history.
2.3 The Rainbow Is a Spirit Bridge
In still other languages the rainbow is seen as a bridge between heaven and earth, and hence as a path for the souls of the dead to follow into the ‘other world’.
2.3.1 Europe
In the Icelandic sagas Bifröst is the burning rainbow bridge connecting Midgard (Earth) and Asgard (the realm of the gods), over which the deity Heimdall stands guard, showing the way to Valhalla for the heros who have earned the right to enter that blessed realm. It is noteworthy that while the rainbow is portrayed as a bridge in the medieval sagas, the name in modern Icelandic and other Germanic languages (Danish, Norwegian regnbue = ‘rain’ + ‘bow’, German Regenbogen, Dutch regenboog, English rainbow) shows that it was earlier conceived as an archer’s bow.
“The soul-bridge tradition has been forgotten in Britain, but shreds of holiness and mystery still cling to the rainbow in folk-belief” (Radford and Radford 1975:279).
In classical Greek Iris, the rainbow, was the messenger of the gods, but there appear to have been varying conceptions of this mythological figure, which are reflected in the treatment of her by different poets. According to Smith (1851:400):
Iris appears to have originally been the personification of the rainbow, for this brilliant phenomenon in the skies, which vanishes as quickly as it appears, was regarded as the swift messenger of the gods .... Some poets describe Iris as the rainbow itself, but other writers represent the rainbow as only the road on which Iris travels, and which therefore appears whenever the goddess wants it, and vanishes when it is no longer needed.
2.3.2 South Asia
In Nepal (ethnic group unspecified) “Traditionally the rainbow is a bridge between Earth and Heaven” (Kirsti Kirjavainen, p.c., 6/9/82, from Harkha Pariyar and Okhal Dhunga).
2.3.3 Central and East Asia
In China the rainbow is sometimes seen as a bridge between humans and supreme beings; only gods/goddesses, or chosen humans such as shamans, sorcerers, or clergy can access it (Zhou 2001).
2.3.4 North America and Mexico
The Tlingit Indians of southern Alaska viewed the rainbow as a road by which the souls of the dead passed to the upper world (Swanton 1908).
Among the Navaho of the American Southwest some say the sun-god “walks on a holy trail of sunbeam or rainbow across the sky” (Matthews 1902:30).
The Catawba in South Carolina call the rainbow ‘the dead people’s road’ (Leach and Fried 1972).
The Yuchi saw the rainbow as a bridge for the souls of the dead to cross to the afterlife (Speck 1909:57).
2.3.5 Central and South America
Among the Inga of Colombia the rainbow is sometimes said to form a bridge to help the Ingas escape from danger (S.H. Levinsohn, p.c., 5/15/82).
Among the Chachi people of Ecuador (formerly called ‘Cayapa’) the rainbow is said by some to be a bridge used by cave and hill spirits, as well as river spirits. When the spirits arrive at their destination their trail or bridge disappears because it is no longer needed. Other speakers say that it is a boa constrictor (Neil Wiebe, p.c. from Alfredo Salazar, 3/16/82).
Note the close resemblance of this idea of a spirit bridge that appears when needed and vanishes later, to the parallel notion in the classical Greek myth of Iris, messenger of the gods. A very similar conception is also described for the Tuaran Dusun of northern Borneo by Evans (1923:52). Each of these cases is clearly stimulated by the transitory nature of the rainbow, which is visible one moment, but gone the next, a fact that must have endlessly puzzled preliterate humans.
2.3.6 Mainland Southeast Asia
According to a British colonial official who spent years among indigenous peoples in Assam, the Sema Naga “call the rainbow kungumi ’pukhu, and translated it to me as ‘the Sky Spirit’s leg’, but it could equally well mean ‘the Sky Spirit’s bridge’ ” (Hutton 1921b: 304, fn. 2 in Mills 1926:304).
2.3.7 Insular Southeast Asia
Among the linguistically and physically distinct Andaman islanders in the Bay of Bengal south of Burma, “the rainbow is believed to have some connection with the spirits of the jungle or of the sea. One very common statement is that it is a bridge of cane that stretches between this world and the world of departed spirits. It is along the rainbow that the spirits travel when they visit the Earth” (Radcliffe-Brown 1922:145 ff.).
The Atayal of northern Taiwan call the rainbow a ‘bridge of the spirits’ (Egerod 1965:281).
The Negritos of Ragay, on the island of Luzon in the northern Philippines, “thought that a rainbow was a kind of bridge over which good spirits walked when they went from one part of the sky to the other” (Garvan 1963:205).
Among other beliefs they have about the rainbow, the Tuaran Dusun in Sabah, North Borneo, have the following, which is said to be from a tale, and reportedly was not necessarily believed by the informant. “Long ago the rainbow was a path for men. Those who lived up-country used the rainbow as a bridge when they wished to go down-country in search of wives” (Evans 1923:51–52).
According to one account, the Balinese call the rainbow cegcegan dedari ‘ladder of the fairies’, and say that it can be used to ascend to heaven (Adrian Clynes, p.c., 1982).
Although the commoners have other ideas, the priestly class among several Toraja peoples in central Sulawesi holds that the rainbow is a bridge to heaven for the souls of the dead (Adriani and Kruyt 1950–1951:407).
The Buginese and Makasarese of southwest Sulawesi consider the rainbow a bridge over which the souls of the dead pass to the afterlife (Wilken 1912:3:259).
2.3.8 New Guinea and Satellite Islands
The Papuan-speaking population to the south of the Carstensz range in the high interior of Indonesian New Guinea “believe that the rainbow is a bridge over which the spirits of the dead pass to the other world” (Le Roux 1950:2:610).
The Tawala of southeast New Guinea see the rainbow as “a pathway for the dead, who travel on it to another world” (John Lynch, p.c. from Gouli Tarumuri, 1987).
Among the Yele of Rossel Island, southeast of New Guinea, there were various views of the rainbow. One of these maintained that it was “some sort of bridge between the good and bad” (Susan Warkentin, p.c., 1983).
2.3.9 Pacific Islands
The Arosi of San Cristobal Island in the southeast Solomons say the rainbow is “the great road of the spirits of the sea; if people saw a rainbow they thought there was a spirit coming towards them along it, and this is why they were afraid of it. Even now when they see a rainbow they all run into their houses” (Fox 1924:133).
In ancient Hawai‘i the rainbow was sometimes conceived as a bridge between heaven and earth. (Beckwith 1976:248, 527).
2.3.10 Africa
To the Wolamo people of Ethiopia the rainbow is a bridge used by evil spirits who break out of their quarters at its foot (Haberland 1963:592).
Again, although a belief in the rainbow bridge is extremely widespread, its antiquity in human thinking is doubtful, since it could only have been conceived once bridges of some kind were known. The earliest of these probably would have been suspension bridges made of vines and wooden slats, and there is virtually no way the history of such technology can be known, since the materials used in construction would have been perishable. Even earlier than the use of suspension bridges, simple logs across small streams may have served as primitive bridges, but these are unlikely models for a rainbow bridge to heaven. Most conceptions of the rainbow as a bridge see it as existing for the souls of the dead to cross to the afterworld. Other ideas about the uses of a rainbow bridge, such as that of the Tuaran Dusun, are clearly later developments. In several cultures the concept of a bridge between Heaven and Earth is only one of several ideas that individual speakers offer about the nature of the rainbow.
2.4 The Rainbow Is a Belt, Scarf, Loincloth, Etc. of a Spirit
2.4.1 Europe
In Lithuanian the rainbow is called laumēs juosta ‘fairy belt/girdle’, departing from the usual Indo-European pattern in which the rainbow is an archer’s weapon (Piesarskas and Svecevičius 1994).
Although the rainbow goes by other names in standard Italian, in the Piemonte, Ticino region of northern Italy it is called ‘dragon’s belt’ (Alinei 1983:52).
In Albanian it is brezi i Perëndise ‘the belt or girdle of God’, again straying from the widespread Indo-European tendency to view it as an archer’s bow (Drizari 1957).
2.4.2 Central and East Asia
The Samoyed of central and western Siberia call the rainbow ‘the hem of the sun god’s coat’ (Voegelin 1972:922).
In China the rainbow is sometimes said to resemble the colorful sleeves or belts used by women as accessories (Zhou 2001).
2.4.3 Central and South America
The Amuesha people on the eastern slopes of the Andes in Peru, say that the rainbow is the boa snake’s belt (Martha Tripp, p.c., 4/82).
2.4.4 Insular Southeast Asia
Among the Bontok of northern Luzon, Philippines, the rainbow is viewed as the loincloth of a spirit. This may be because Bontok loincloths are made of lengths of material that is woven in striped patterns, creating a superficial similarity to the rainbow. “Its appearance is a bad omen, and results in the delay or extension of any rituals that are taking place when it appears. It sucks up the substance of rice in the fields or granaries over which it hovers. The rice is still there, but the value has gone from it. You’ll still be hungry after eating it” (Lawrence A. Reid, p.c., 3/10/2000).
The Tuaran Dusun of Sabah (North Borneo) say that the rainbow is the fighting scarf of Kinharingan (a deity), with which he stops the rain (Evans 1923:15).
Among the Sasak, on Lombok Island just east of Bali, the rainbow is called sabuk Déwa ‘belt/girdle of the gods’ (Goris 1938:257).
Some Toraja peoples in central Sulawesi regard the rainbow as the scarf of a deity (Adriani and Kruyt 1950–1951:407).
The Ngadha and other Austronesian-speaking groups on the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia say the rainbow is the shawl of the Earth Spirits, put out to dry (Bader 1971:948).
Among the Luang of the Sermata archipelago just east of Timor in eastern Indonesia the rainbow is considered to be a flag of people who live up above (Mark Taber, p.c., 1994).
2.4.5 Pacific Islands
The Bariai of west New Britain in the Bismarck Archipelago east of New Guinea see the rainbow as the loincloth of a spirit or deity (Lafeber 1914:275).
Among the Polynesians of Mangaia in the northern Cook Islands the rainbow is regarded as “the girdle of the god Tangaroa, which he loosens and allows to hang down until the end reaches to the Earth whenever he wishes to descend” (Gill 1876:44).
2.4.6 Africa
The Galla or Oromo of Ethiopia call the rainbow ‘the belt of the Gods’ or ‘the staff of the Gods’ (Haberland 1963:592)
Among the Nuer a rainbow is said to be ‘the necklace of God’ (Evans-Pritchard 1956:2).
This is quite a variable entry, covering a range of articles of clothing, and attributing them in some cases to a spirit, in others to a deity, in others to people in the sky, and in still others to a dragon or snake. It is unlikely to have great antiquity as a conception of the rainbow, and its secondary nature is particularly clear where it is said to be the belt of a dragon or large snake.
2.5 The Rainbow Is a Net
2.5.1 Insular Southeast Asia
The people of the island of Nias, west of Sumatra in Indonesia, reportedly “tremble at the sight of a rainbow, because they think it is a net spread by a powerful spirit to catch their shadows” (Frazer 1920:3:79).
2.6 The Rainbow Is a Spirit
2.6.1 Europe
As noted earlier, in a survey of European folk beliefs about the rainbow, Alinei (1982:52) suggests that the rainbow was traditionally seen “as a daemon, capable of causing diseases and death.”
2.6.2 North America and Mexico
The Mandan Indians of North Dakota say the rainbow is a spirit accompanying the sun (Wallis 1918:371).
2.6.3 Central and South America
To the Carib-speaking Indians of the Guianas and portions of the Caribbean the rainbow (paramu) “Is not a sign of peace. On the contrary, so long as it stands in the sky people may not leave their homes, as it is a yoroka, an evil spirit that can kill humans. The most colorful part of the bow is the feather crown with which they decorate their heads …” (Ahlbrinck 1931:361).
To the Kaiwá of the Mato Grosso region of western Brazil, a rainbow is not a bridge or a snake; rather, “It is simply a manifestation of anháy—evil spirits” (David Harthan, p.c., 6/2/82).
2.6.4 Mainland Southeast Asia
According to Milne (1924:354), among the Palaung of the Shan states of Burma
When the rainbow makes an arch from horizon to horizon the kar-nam (spirits) forming it are called par-yon. These are tiny but terrible creatures that have their home in the sky, coming down to the earth to drink. Short rainbows which do not extend in an arch across the sky, are the ham-ham. These are also spirits that live in the sky. Both the par-yon and the ham-ham are worm-like creatures, very brilliant in color and without legs .... One should avoid drinking at the spring where these spirits have been drinking (if you do, the stomach swells up).
2.6.5 Insular Southeast Asia
The Simalur people on the island of Simeulue, west of northern Sumatra in Indonesia call the rainbow jumbalaŋ, which also refers to a demon (kobold) or earth spirit that can harm humans (Kähler 1961:57).
2.6.6 Pacific Islands
Among the Avau people on the south coast of the island of New Britain it is believed that the rainbow is produced by a marsalai (spirit) yawning. The Akolet from the same general area have a similar concept, as the name for the rainbow is tamara mamaunga, or ‘spirit yawning’ (Hiroko Sato, p.c., 9/29/17).
The people of Sa’a and Ulawa islands in the southeast Solomons greatly fear the malevolent Sea Spirits. As described by Ivens (1972:201)
A rainbow or a waterspout or a black squall is their inseparable companion. The rainbow is their special sign. They travel on rainbows and slide up and down on them. The appearance of a rainbow in a sunshower at sea or on land is a sure indication of their presence .... A canoe out catching bonito will give a wide berth to a rainbow or to a waterspout.
2.6.7 Africa
According to the Dida of the Ivory Coast, some people believe that the rainbow “is from the action of a certain (guardian) spirit” (Denis Masson, p.c., from M. Sergui Goston, 12/1/82). This belief may reflect missionary teaching.
The Luo of the southern Sudan consider the rainbow “a type of god (juog ‘spirit’).” (Questionnaire completed anonymously, forwarded by Jon Arensen, 1982).
There is no question that the rainbow is associated with the spirit world in most traditional societies, but as will be shown below, it is typically identified much more specifically with a supernatural serpent—that is, with a spirit-snake.
2.7 The Rainbow Is the Penis of a Deity
This unexpected view of the rainbow is found in three widely separated areas, but with minimal information for two of them.
2.7.1 North America and Mexico
The Yurok of northwest California say the rainbow is a penis (Driver 1939:343; information available from checklist only).
2.7.2 Insular Southeast Asia
Hooykaas (1956:301) relates a Balinese myth about the origin of the rainbow in which the god Guru becomes enamored of the goddess Uma, whom he has created to bring him solace:
God Guru looking at Goddess Uma became passionate, (she was) male, not male, female, not female: she had a male member. In his desire for intercourse he clutched her. The god was frightened at the sight of her male sex (organ), snatched it off and threw it into the sky: this is the rainbow.
In this case a mythological context is provided for the idea that the rainbow is a penis, specifically the penis of a hermaphroditic deity.
2.7.3 Pacific Islands
Among the Xârâcùù of south-central New Caledonia in southern Melanesia, the rainbow is said to be the penis of the thunder. No further explanation is given (J.C. Rivierre, p.c., 3/5/85).
2.8 The Rainbow Is a Gigantic Snake
By far the most common view of the rainbow, in many diverse cultures around the world, is that it is an enormous supernatural snake, as seen in the following.
2.8.1 Europe
Grimm (1844:695) observed of the Romans that the rainbow was believed to drink water from the earth. This is presumably how it becomes transferred to the sky and falls as rain.
Although most sources on the dragon are silent on this matter, the Italian linguist Mario Alinei, who is responsible for the entry on ‘rainbow’ in the Atlas Linguarum Europae, almost alone, has drawn attention to the presence in Europe of a belief very similar to that of tribal societies in other parts of the world:
There are endless attestations in Latin—from Plautus on—of the rainbow as ‘drinking’ the water from the earth. But nowhere do we find, in Latin, the full representation of this conception. Only in modern folklore and among modern ‘primitive’ peoples do we find the total picture. The rainbow is a giant animal, and it is this animal that drinks the water, sometimes everything else, including human beings (Alinei 1982:52).
Elsewhere (Alinei 1985:332) he makes the more specific connection of the drinking rainbow as being that of the rainbow in the form of an enormous serpent:
For Latins, as Plautus already attested, bibit arcus (Curculio 132) the rainbow “drinks” the water from the earth. There is no trace in Latin literature, however, of the underlying belief that the “drinking rainbow” is actually a snake, a dragon, a gigantic animal, although all of these conceptions are clearly preserved both in the names and in the folklore of the “drinking” rainbow.
In the latter publication Alinei relates the equivalance of the rainbow and the dragon to traces of totemism in modern European folklore, but does not clearly indicate the derivation of the dragon idea from earlier conceptions of the rainbow as the Rainbow Serpent. Similar views were expressed in passing by Grimm (1844:695) for pre-Christian Europe, again without drawing the conclusion that the Rainbow Serpent and the dragon are one and the same entity.
2.8.2 South Asia
The Birhor, a jungle tribe of Chōta Nāgpur, India, hold that the rainbow “is formed by water which the Baṇḍē-lēlē snake gurgles out of its mouth” (Roy 1925:497 ff.).
Among the Kols of Uttar Pradesh in northern India, Lūrbeng means both ‘rainbow’ and ‘serpent’ (Crooke 1925:46).
2.8.3 Central and East Asia
According to a folk belief among the Chinese of Lanzhou in Gansu province, the rainbow is a dragon that drinks water from the sea and sprays it out as rain (Lo Chin-tang, p.c., 1990).
In China by analogy to animals’ water-drinking, the image of rainbows became animate, the earliest known record of this dating back to the Shang dynasty (Kuo 2000). The belief that the rainbow drinks water from a spring, a well, or a river, of even from cookware is found in at least Sichuan, Jiangxi, and Qinghai provinces (Zhou 2001).
In Okinawa a rainbow is called aminumiya (ami = water, numi = drink, ya = person/thing). Aminumiya is a snake (dragon) spotted in red. It was believed that because this snake drank water in the sky, there was no rain (Obayashi 1999, from Hiroko Sato, p.c., 12/16/17).
On Amami Oshima island in the Ryukyus of southern Japan a rainbow is called tinnagya (tin = ‘sky’, and nagya = ‘long insect or worm’), that is, a snake (Obayashi 1999, from Hiroko Sato, p.c., 12/16/17).
2.8.4 North America and Mexico
Among the Amuzgo in southern Mexico, the rainbow is regarded as an enormous snake. If one sees the snake it will not rain—in other words, the rainbow snake is believed to withhold the rain (Cloyd Stewart, p.c., 1982).
The Totonac of southern Mexico believe that the rainbow is associated with a water serpent, or mazacuate (Ichon 1969:137).
2.8.5 Central and South America
The Mam of Todos Santos, Guatemala, entertain several conceptions of the rainbow. The two most relevant to this discussion are: 1. the Great Serpent has raised his tail, and it arches back down to come back to his body, and 2. the Great Serpent has come into contact with water, and the resultant steam shoots out into the air in a great chromatic arc (Richard Reimer, p.c., 1982).
As already mentioned in several connections, among the Chortí of Guatemala “Chicchan is the most important of the native deities and is generally thought of as a giant snake, although this form has many modifications .... The rainbow is the body of a Chicchan stretched across the sky” (Wisdom 1974:392–394). In addition, Wisdom notes that the sky Chicchans are fused with several Christian saints—Balthazar in the north, and Gabriel, Raphael, Michael, Peter, Paul and the Angel of Hope in the others, revealing a syncretism of introduced Christian ideology with the indigenous belief system about the spirit world.
The Aguaruna of the Peruvian montaña call the rainbow págki wajáu, where págki means ‘anaconda’ and wajáu is unclear (Larson 1966:51).
The Candoshi in northeast Peru believe the rainbow is a manifestation of water boa (anaconda) spirit power. Others say it is the boa’s hammock. According to some speakers it can take away people’s spirits so that they sicken or die (Wahacha Tsirimpo, p.c., 1982).
Among the Chachi people of Ecuador the rainbow is said by some to be a giant boa constrictor (anaconda). Others consider it a spirit bridge (Neil Wiebe, p.c. from Alfredo Salazar, 1982).
The Inga, in the Putumayo district of southwest Colombia, traditionally considered the rainbow a giant snake. In folklore this snake becomes a powerful shaman, but as noted earlier, it is also thought of as forming a bridge to help the Ingas escape from danger (S.H. Levinsohn, p.c., 4/82).
According to the Lengua Indians of Paraguay, “the rainbow is held by some to be symbolic of some serpent monster. When seen in the west or northwest the Indians will not handle sharp instruments, such as a knife or axe, for fear of being hurt … generally speaking, his idea of the rainbow is that it is a sign of calamity” (Grubb 1911:141). Loewen (1965:293), who was a missionary to the Lengua Norte (now called Enxet Norte) makes a similar observation: “Another spirit that is greatly feared is the spirit of serpent. This is the embodiment of all snakes and appears to find its culmination in the rainbow, which is held to be some kind of serpentine monster.”
As reported by Nimuendajú (1946:234), the Eastern Timbira in east-central Brazil say that
The rainbow (‘person of the rain’) has its two ends resting in the open mouths of sucuriju snakes, which themselves yield rain. It appears as a sign that the rain has ceased. When the rainbow disappears, two eel-like fish … rise to the sky, where they drop into a water hole. When there is a heavy rain they again drop back into the terrestrial water. One informant said the snakes ascended to the sky by the rainbow lest there be too many here on earth.
2.8.6 Mainland Southeast Asia
In Khamti, a Southwestern Thai language spoken in Burma (Myanmar) and India, the rainbow is called huŋ kin nam ‘dragon drink water’, and in the dialect of Malay spoken in the state of Selangor on the west side of the Malay peninsula, the rainbow is called ular minum, where ular = ‘snake’ and minum = ‘drinks’. Hence the rainbow is ‘snake drinks’.
Among the Palaung of the Shan states of Burma some people “believe that the rainbow is a nāga” [dragon] (Milne 1924:354).
The Kintak Bong and Menik Kaien Negritos of the interior Malay peninsula say that the rainbow “is two snakes, called Huyak, which come to drink” (Evans 1923:155).
In an unspecified Negrito group of the Malay peninsula the rainbow is called ‘Hwē-ā’. It is believed to be the body of a great serpent or python, and the spots where it touches the earth are regarded as very feverish and hard to live near (Skeat and Blagden 1906:2:203–204).
Among rural Malays a century ago the rainbow was believed to be “a celestial serpent of enormous size” (Wilkinson 1906:29).
2.8.7 Insular Southeast Asia
The Toba Batak of the interior of northern Sumatra have the expression halibutongan marsobur (= ‘rainbow’ + ‘drink, of animals’), implying that the rainbow drinks water from a terrestrial source (Sitor Situmorang, p.c., 8/3/83).
The Minangkabau people of western Sumatra call the rainbow ula məŋiaŋ ‘shining/lustrous snake’.
As noted in Chapter 5, section 3.6 Trait 6, on the horns of the dragon, Javanese folk belief holds that the rainbow is an enormous supernatural snake arching over the island of Java, and “ending in two heads of deer or cows, one of which drinks the water from the Java-sea, the other from the Indian Ocean. When satiated they vomit the water as rain on the earth” (Hooykaas 1956:291).
Similarly, among the Maumere on the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia, the rainbow is regarded as “a snake that drinks up the rain” (Bader 1971:950).
Among the Kaidipang of northern Sulawesi, Indonesia, “The rainbow is associated with a subterranean snake that controls water” (Hunggu Tajuddin Usup, p.c., 1981).
The Kédang people on the island of Lembata in eastern Indonesia, believe that the village spring of Léuwajang, represents the life waters of the community. A very large snake is the owner of these waters, and “A rainbow seen near the spring is this snake” (Barnes 1974:62).
Whether or not contemporary speakers of these languages believe that the rainbow is a gigantic snake that is drinking from a terrestrial water source is irrelevant. Just as most modern English speakers see no connection between the -bow of ‘rainbow’ and an archer’s weapon despite the history of this word, most modern Khamti or Selangor Malay speakers probably see no connection between their word for the rainbow and a snake drinking, but the evidence that this belief once existed is preserved in language, and is richly supported by ethnographic evidence that will be examined in the following chapter.
2.8.8 New Guinea and Satellite Islands
Shortly after the British social anthropologist A.R. Radcliffe-Brown described the Rainbow Serpent myth as common to most of the Australian continent, the American social anthropologist Margaret Mead (1933) suggested that a ‘Rainbow Serpent Complex’ also exists among some New Guinea peoples. In general, she referred to these serpents as marsalais (‘bush spirits’). More particularly, as she observed among the Mountain Arapesh, “The rainbow (alut) itself is said to be made by two marsalais, an enormous lahowhin (a poisonous snake), and an enormous shemaun (dugong). To the lahowhin marsalai is attributed the rainbow over the land, to the dugong the rainbow over the sea” (Mead 1933:37).
According to Brumbaugh (1987:25–26) The Feranmin and Mountain Ok of New Guinea tell of an alien being in the wild bush
Under its shifting disguises, this creature whose public names include Magalim and Anangkayaak is recognizable as a local version of the Rainbow Serpent .... The rainbow (wepal) is said to be the sign of Magalim. Its many colors reveal the colors of his skin, which shimmers like the rainbow.
Unlike the situation in many other places, Magalim is not opposed to thunder or lightning, but rather “lightning is sometimes said to be the flashing yellow of Magalim’s skin as thunder is the pounding of his tail” (Brumbaugh 1987:26).
The Malaeng people of the Madang district, Papua New Guinea say that when they see a rainbow they think of a snake, and the place where the rainbow starts is where the snake lives. A double rainbow symbolizes that the snake has changed its position (John Verhaar, p.c., 4/20/86).
Among the Tambul-Korika west of Mount Hagen in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea “It is commonly understood that the rainbow is the appearance of a snake” (John Lynch, p.c., 1987).
2.8.9 Australia
As noted already, the Rainbow Serpent belief is virtually universal over the Australian continent in those areas where ethnography has been done. Many of the traditional cultures of southeast Australia and Tasmania disappeared before information on this matter was recorded, so little is known about them. The following is a small selection from a much larger number of distinct ethnolinguistic groups that could be mentioned.
To the Tiwi of Melville and Bathurst islands north of the Australian mainland, the Rainbow Serpents, which are called ‘Maratji’, are lizard-like (Mountford 1958:155).
Among the Kakadu/Gaagudju of Arnhem Land in northern Australia, “The rainbow is supposed ... to be the Iwaiyu (spirit) of a Numereji snake. When the latter spits, he makes rain and says … “up above, Iwaiyu, go spittle, my Iwaiyu.” It does so in the form of a rainbow which is supposed to stop the rain” (Baldwin 1914:326).
As reported by Radcliffe-Brown (1926:20), beliefs about the rainbow in the Kabi tribe of the Queensland coast “are somewhat similar to those at Brisbane .... Dhakkan or Takkan, the rainbow, was regarded as being in form a combination of fish and snake, and lived in the deepest water-holes. When visible as a rainbow he was supposed to be passing from one water-hole to another.” Compare the parallel Creek belief in the American Southeast, that the tie-snake can make it rain in order to move from one river to another, although in the North American context the horned water serpent has been conceptually separated from its origin in the rainbow.
2.8.10 Africa
The Chokosi or Anufo in northern Ghana say that the rainbow “is connected with the python (the same word is used for both)” (Dean L. Jordan, p.c., 9/2/82).
The Yoruba have a belief about the rainbow that is similar to that of the Chokosi: “The great snake of the underworld is the rainbow god of the Yoruba. It comes up at times to drink water from the sky. A variety of the python is the messenger of this god” (Ellis 1966:81).
Among the Hausa of northern Nigeria “Gajjimare (the rainbow) is in shape something like a snake, but it is hermaphrodite, or at least double gendered, the male part being red, the female blue” (Tremearne 1968:340).
At least one speaker of Andoni or Obolo of the southeastern Niger delta in Nigeria said that
Among very small children the rainbow is thought to be a python, but eventually the elders teach the children that the rainbow is the rain and the sun struggling with one another. The children are then taught the song ‘The leopard has delivered a child at the foot of the ako tree’ (a tall hardwood tree that grows in the bush). This song is sung by the children whenever they see a rainbow from that time onward (Clinton Utong, p.c., 1982).
Since this group has been exposed to Western contact for over a century this sounds suspiciously like the native belief is now attributed only to small children, and the Western explanation has been substituted for what once was general to the populace at large.
The Nso’/Lamnso’ of northwest Cameroon “believe that the rainbow proceeds from a snake’s mouth. However, it is not a known snake, but an unknown giant snake” (Karl Grebe, p.c. from Patrick Sligatan and Francis Taata, 1982).
Among the Bamileke of western Cameroon “the rainbow is a snake which ends in a river. Each river is associated with the leader of a different totemic group. The appearance of the rainbow is a sign of impending evil. Its negative influence will be experienced by the group in whose river it alights” (Jan Voorhoeve, p.c., 1982).
For the Moru of South Sudan “The rainbow is associated with big snakes that are found in bamboo forests. Moru people believe rainbows originate from the forests” (Darius K. Jonathan, p.c., 1985).
Among many Bantu speakers across central and west Africa the rainbow is seen as “the celestial union of two serpents, male and female, who live in two different rivers. These multicolored creatures stop rain from falling; according to others they cause rain to fall” (de Heusch 1982:35).
The Nyakyusa of southern Tanzania say “When it rains a snake emerges from the earth to drink in the sky. The rainbow is its shimmering underside as it turns on its back” (Tom Cook, p.c., 4/21/80).
As noted at the beginning of this chapter, the Zulu of southern Africa, “feared the rainbow, which they associated with snakes. It was said to live with a snake, or at least, one always appeared whenever the bow was visible. When it was seen with its end touching the earth, it was believed to be drinking from a pool” (Hole 1983:2333).
Sometimes the association of the rainbow with a giant snake is indirect, and the rainbow is not the snake itself, but the breath, or shadow of the snake.
2.9 The Rainbow Is the Shadow or Reflection of a Giant Snake
2.9.1 Insular Southeast Asia
Among the Behrang Sakai or Senoi of the Malayan jungles, the rainbow is a dragon. More exactly, the rainbow is the shadow which arises from the body of a great snake which lives in the earth. The red of the rainbow is its body, the green its liver, and the yellow its stomach (Evans 1923:208).
2.9.2 Central and South America
A speaker of Muinane in the Amazonas province of southern Colombia “volunteered that the rainbow is a ‘spirit boa’, or possibly the ‘reflection’ of the mythological boa snake” (James W. Walton, p.c., from Andres Paky, 4/82).
The Canelos or Canelos-Quichua Indians and some other tribes in eastern Ecuador “fancy that he (the rainbow) is nothing but a huge anaconda in the air, or, as they generally express it, the rainbow is the ‘shadow of the anaconda’ ” (Karsten 1926:360–361).
2.9.3 Africa
The Ikwerre of Nigeria say that the rainbow is “a giant snake in the water with its reflection in the sky (thought to be a bad omen foretelling the death of a very important person)” (Kay Williamson, p.c., from J.T.N. Wali, 1982)
“It is worth noting that the Kikuyu say the rainbow in the water [the spray from a waterfall] and the sky is not the animal itself, but its picture, because in a very distant region of West Africa the Ewe (in Togo) say the same thing: the rainbow is the reflection of the snake in the clouds” (Werner 1933:232).
2.10 The Rainbow Is the Breath of a Spirit or Giant Snake
2.10.1 South Asia
Hindus in northern India think that the rainbow “is the fume of a great serpent hidden in the ground, who, himself invisible, vomits the fume through a hole in the ground” (Crooke 1925:46).
2.10.2 North America and Mexico
The Sierra Popoluca of the state of Vera Cruz in Mexico believe “that the rainbow is the path of a giant snake en route to see another snake, while others hold that it is merely the breath of a giant serpent, and that it presages rain” (Foster 1945:187).
Among the Coatlan Mixe of Oaxaca, Mexico, the rainbow is believed to be the breath of a mythological serpent rather than the serpent itself. Children are told not to open their mouths when looking at the rainbow (Searle Hoogshagen, p.c., 1982).
2.10.3 Central and South America
The Guahibo in eastern Colombia and western Venezuela, believe that the rainbow is the breath of a lizard going from hole to hole. No further information could be obtained about the type of lizard it represents (Riena Kondo p.c., from Marcelino Sosa, 4/82).
The Panare of Venezuela say the rainbow is the breath of a huge snake (Vicente Diaz, p.c., 4/82).
2.10.4 Mainland Southeast Asia
Among the Rengma Nagas of Assam in eastern India “A rainbow ... is believed to rise from wet places and to be spirits’ breath” (Mills 1979:245).
2.10.5 Insular Southeast Asia
To the Woisika of the island of Alor in eastern Indonesia the rainbow is steam from a gargantuan snake or eel that drinks from the river and then yawns and exudes vapor into the sky (Wim Stokhof, p.c., 1983).
2.10.6 New Guinea and Satellite Islands
As already noted above, the Mountain Arapesh of New Guinea say “the rainbow, alut is made by the giant marsalais (bush spirits), by a shemaun (dugong) from the sea, and a lahowhin (viper) from the land. The marsalai opens its mouth and the rainbow is the sun shining through its sprayed breath” (Mead 1940:392).
2.10.7 Africa
Among the Wobe of the Ivory Coast the rainbow is said to be “the breath of a toad named tuo kpooɔ” (Verena Hofe, p.c., 12/82, from Bozou Paul, Tohoun Benoit, and Fae Sae Abossolo).
The Deg of west-central Ghana believe “that the rainbow represents the mouth of a large python, with smoke coming out which produces the rainbow colors. You should not attempt to go near the rainbow, or the python will eat you” (Philip Hewer, p.c., 9/2/82).
2.11 The Rainbow Is the Tongue of a Huge Snake
2.11.1 Central and East Asia
Among the Yukaghir of northeast Siberia in Russia “The rainbow is regarded as the Sun’s tongue; therefore, they call it puʹgud-onorāʹ, that is, of the sun the tongue” (Jochelson 1910:144).
2.11.2 Insular Southeast Asia
On the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia some Ngadha people say the rainbow is the tongue of a huge snake (Bader 1971:950).
2.11.3 Africa
The Kulere of the northern Nigerian plateau say that “the rainbow is the tongue of a great serpent; when the serpent puts out its tongue the rain stops” (Neiers 1979:54, via Tom Cook, 4/21/80).
2.12 Other Depictions of the Rainbow
2.12.1 Central and East Asia
In Ket and Yugh along the Yenisei River in Siberia the word for ‘rainbow’ reflects Proto-Ket-Yugh *ekŋanna qo’t, which consists in turn of *ekŋan ‘thunder (plural)’ + na (animate plural possessor) + qo’t ‘path’, a term that can be translated as ‘Thunder Way.’ “The Kets believed there were seven Thunderers (animate beings in the sky, basically known as ‘voices’). The word for thunder appears to derive from a word that also means ‘voice’ or ‘name’ ” (Edward Vajda, p.c., 8/10/18).
In Nivkh/Gilyak, spoken on Sakhalin island just north of Hokkaido in the Russian Far East, there are two expressions for the rainbow, one of which is unanalyzable, and the other of which is lïy petr, lit. ‘thunder ornament’ (Alexander Vovin, p.c., 9/24/17).
Modern Korean mujigɛ, and Middle Korean mïcikey < mïr ‘water’ + cikey ‘yoke’, referring to the rainbow, both have the literal meaning ‘A-frame’, a device for carrying buckets of water and other things (Alexander Vovin, p.c., 9/24/17).
2.12.2 North America and Mexico
According to the pioneering fieldwork of the American linguist Edward Sapir, the Wishram of southern Oregon believed that “If a rainbow appears, truly (it signifies) that a woman will give birth to a child” (Bright 1990:217).
Similarly, the Tolowa of northern California say that the rainbow is a sign of childbirth somewhere (Driver 1939, checklist only).
As will be noted again later, Lévi-Strauss (1981:243) made much of this feature, which appears to be restricted to a small number of ethnolinguistic groups on or near the coastal Oregon-California border. A similar idea is found among the Suau of southeast New Guinea where, however, it is specifically a double rainbow that carries this signification.
The Yurok call the rainbow wonewslepah, from wonew(s) ‘above, overhead, in the mountains’, and lepah(tep) ‘to stretch; crawl along’, hence ‘that which stretches or crawls along overhead’ (Robins 1958:265).
According to the Tulare Lake Yokuts of central California, “The rainbow … is made of flowers. It has four stripes: purple-red, blue, yellow, orange, each made of different kinds of flowers. These flowers are all edible except waṭa’gu (the orange one). A rainbow forecast a plentiful food supply, but it had no supernatural significance” (Gayton 1948:24).
The Tümpisa, or Panamint Shoshone of the Great Basin call the rainbow ümatünna poton = ‘rain staff, rain cane (for walking)’ (Dayley 1989:220, 370).
Among the Potawatomi, traditionally occupying much of the territory between Lakes Michigan and Huron, the word jigwe-myew ‘rainbow’ apparently means ‘thunder road’ (Hockett 1939:44).
2.12.3 Central and South America
To the Botocudo of eastern Brazil “The rainbow is the shadow of the sun” (Métraux 1963a: 540).
2.12.4 Mainland Southeast Asia
Mills (1926:304) states that among the Ao Nagas of Assam in eastern India
rainbows are just accepted without any attempt at explanation and are in some way symbolical of wealth. A bamboo arc, representing a rainbow is in many villages set up in front of the corpse-platform of a rich man. Nobody seems to know why...; a rainbow is also connected with rain and so with the prosperity emanating from the trophies of war and sacrifice.
2.12.5 Insular Southeast Asia
Among the people of Great Andaman Island in the Bay of Bengal south of Burma the rainbow reportedly is regarded as the dancing board of a certain sky spirit (Man 1932:86).
The Nage of the island of Flores in eastern Indonesia say that the rainbow is the club of the evil spirit Noa with which he strikes men and animals (Der Regenbogen ist die Keule des bösen Geistes Noa, mit der er menschen und Tieren trifft) (Bader 1971:952).
2.12.6 Africa
With regard to the rainbow, the Rendille of northern Kenya say that “children playfully point at it and say that it is father’s beads” (Mr. and Mrs. N. Swanepoel, p.c., 1982).
3 Distributional Summary
To allow ready comparison of frequencies, the following are the portrayals of the rainbow covered in the preceding pages, followed by relevant ethnolinguistic groups:
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bow: 1. English, 2. German, 3. Danish, 4. Norwegian, 5. French, 6. Sanskrit, 7. Catalan, 8. Rhaeto-Romansch, 9. Latin, 10. Old/Modern Irish, 11. Old/Modern Russian, 12. Czech, 13. Serbo-Croatian, 14. Bengali, 15. Modern Greek, 16. Albanian, 17. Maltese, 18, Classical Armenian, 19. Italian, 20. Saami, 21. Middle Mongolian, 22. Khalkha Mongol, 23. Chinese, 24. Catawba, 25. Ofo, 26. Classical Arabic, 27. Kusaasi, 28. Swahili, 29. Ila, 30. Ba Thonga.
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scythe/sword: 1. Estonian, 2. Toraja, 3. Minyanka, 4. Malagasy.
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bridge/path: 1. Icelandic, 2. Classical Greek, 3. Nepal, 4. Chinese, 5. Tlingit, 6. Navaho, 7. Catawba, 8. Yuchi, 9. Chachi, 10. Sema Naga, 11. Andamanese, 12. Atayal, 13. Ragay Negritos, 14. Tuaran Dusun, 15. Balinese, 16. Toraja, 17. Buginese-Makasarese, 18. Papuans south of Carstensz range, 19. Tawala, 20. Yele, 21. Arosi, 22. Hawaiian, 23. Wolamo.
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belt/scarf/loincloth: 1. Lithuanian, 2. Italian dialects, 3. Albanian, 4. Samoyed, 5. Chinese, 6. Amuesha, 7. Bontok, 8. Tuaran Dusun, 9. Sasak, 10. Toraja, 11. Ngadha, 12. Luang, 13. Bariai, 14. Mangaian, 15. Galla/Oromo, 16. Nuer.
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net: 1. Nias.
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spirit: 1. Mandan, 2. Caribs, 3. Palaung, 4. Simalur, 5. Avau, 6. Sa’a/Ulawa, 7. Dida, 8. Luo.
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enormous snake: 1. Khamti, 2. Selangor Malay, 3. Toba Batak, 4. Birhor, 5. Chinese (Lanzhou), 6. Okinawa, 7. Amuzgo, 8. Totonac, 9. Mam, 10. Chortí, 11. Aguaruna, 12. Candoshi, 13. Chachi, 14. Inga, 15. Lengua, 16. Eastern Timbira, 17. Palaung, 18. Kintak Bong, 19. Minangkabau, 20. Javanese, 21. Maumere, 22. Kaidipang, 23. Kédang, 24. Malaeng, 25. Tambul-Korika, 26. Tiwi, 27. Kakadu, 28. Kabi, 29. Chokosi, 30. Yoruba, 31. Hausa, 32. Obolo, 33. Nso’, 34. Bamileke, 35. Moru, 36. Nyakusa, 37. Zulu, 38. Behrang Sakai, 39. Muinane, 40. Canelos, 41. Ikwerre, 42. Kikuyu, 43. Ewe, 44. Sierra Popoluca, 45. Coatlan Mixe, 46. Guahibo, 47. Panare, 48. Rengma Naga, 49. Woisika, 50. Mountain Arapesh, 51. Wobe, 52. Deg, 53. Ngadha, 54. Kulere.
This chapter has shown that the rainbow is conceived in various ways by peoples around the world. Some of these conceptions are rare, as 5) ‘net’, and others common, as 1) ‘bow’, 3) bridge/path, or 7) enormous snake. It is the last of these that particularly stands out. In counting cases one must not overlook ‘Galton’s Problem’ (Levinson and Malone 1980:14), namely the need to ensure the historical independence of the units of comparison. Whereas many ethnolinguistic groups regard the rainbow as the weapon of an archer, 19 of the 30 cases cited here, or 63 %) are from speakers of Indo-European languages, representing the continuation of a single ethnolinguistic group from some 6,000 years ago, rather than a number of historically independent traditions. By contrast, the conception of the rainbow as a giant snake appears in many cultures, without reference to historical connection insofar as this can be inferred from linguistic relationship. Importantly, as will be stressed later, even in written traditions in which the dragon and Rainbow Serpent are clearly separated, as in Europe, the ancient Near East, India or China, the folk tradition resembles that of tribal peoples more closely than it resembles the literary tradition in its own culture. This is shown with particular clarity by Alinei (1982, 1983, 1985), who has noted such intriguing differences as Standard German Regenboog (rain + bow) vs. Germanic dialects of northern Italy Regenwurm (rain + worm) ‘rainbow’, as well as references, dating as early as the Roman dramatist Plautus in the third century BCE, to the rainbow as ‘drinking’ water from the earth.
We are brought back to the thought experiment proposed at the beginning of this chapter. Faced with something both visually and cognitively not just stunning, but also mysterious—since it can be in the sky one minute and gone the next, how would humans with fully modern brains beginning perhaps as early as 150,000–200,000 years ago have explained the striking phenomenon of the rainbow? Recall that the brain is produced by nature, but the mind is produced by culture. The brains of modern ‘primitives’, regardless of their level of material culture, are no different in inherent cognitive capacity than ours, and this would have been true as long as anatomically modern humans have existed. Keeping this in mind, it is clear that certain questions would inevitably have arisen, that answers had to be provided for them, and that this thought process must have been very similar to the following:
Q: What is it?
A: An enormous spirit snake.
Q: What is it doing up there?
A: Drinking water from the earth and spewing it out to make the rain/drinking up the rain and making it stop.
Q: Where does it stay when not in the sky?
A: In the springs, waterholes, lakes, rivers, etc. from which it drinks.
Q: What does it do when it is there?
A: It guards the water.
In short, the distributional evidence reported here is most plausibly explained by assuming that in the remote human past the rainbow was conceived as an enormous spirit snake that drank water from a terrestrial source and spewed it out to make the rain, or that drank the rain and made it stop, since it naturally appears only at that tipping point between when fire and water are, so to speak, competing for control of the sky. When it was not in the sky it rested in those places from which it drew water to make the rain, hence in springs, lakes or rivers. From the beginning, then, the Rainbow Serpent must have had a dual identity as the rainbow and the serpent guardian of terrestrial water sources. In some parts of the world, as Australia, these two manifestations of the rainbow are still transparent alter egos, while in other regions, as Europe, or aboriginal North America, they have become separated to the point of unrecognizability. In still other areas, as China, these two incarnations of the rainbow are separate in the ‘high’ (imperial) tradition, but are still transparently related in the ‘low’ (folk) tradition.
This interpretation has inescapable consequences for the common treatment of the so-called ‘Rainbow Serpent myth’ as a phenomenon peculiar to aboriginal Australians. Since essentially the same concept has been documented in all of the twelve zones treated in this book except the ancient Near East (for which information is limited), and the Pacific islands (many of which lack snakes), it is difficult to see why it should not be treated as a culture universal, inherited from tens of thousands of years in the past, or reinvented repeatedly throughout human history. Yet the fixed idea that the Rainbow Serpent is a uniquely Australian phenomenon persists to the present, as anyone can see by checking the entry for ‘Rainbow Serpent’ in Wikipedia, where the reader is told “This article is about an Australian Aboriginal religious figure,” and nothing is said about the fact that essentially the same belief is found in many other parts of the world.
In a society dominated by animistic thinking there would be nothing unusual about regarding the rainbow as a gigantic spirit snake, as much of nature was thought to be activated by spirit presences (Tylor 1871). The alternative conceptions of the rainbow as a bow, scythe/sword, bridge/path, belt/scarf/loincloth or net are almost certainly later inventions that replaced or were superimposed upon the primary conception of the rainbow as the Rainbow Serpent. In some cases this is obvious, since scythes or swords have existed only since the advent of metallurgy, the period when humans first struck upon the idea of a bridge is unclear, but not ancient, and the bow, whatever its antiquity, is unknown in areas such as Australia or much of Africa, and almost certainly evolved from the prior use of spears. Once this is understood many attributes of the dragon fall into place as expected consequences of its origin as the Rainbow Serpent.
With this background in mind, it is time now to review the ethnology of the rainbow, much as we reviewed the ethnology of the dragon in Chapter 5.