By EMMANUEL .U. WOOD (National
Commission for Museums and Monuments, Nigeria)
Abstract
Rain
is the source of life for everything here on planet earth. It’s importance in Igbo
society can never be over emphasized, considering that the Igbo Society is
agrarian in nature, where majority of the population are farmers, whose
livelihood are dependent on water which is affected by the rain. There are
rainy and dry seasons annually in Igbo land. These seasons determine the
community life of the people. Thus the change of seasons is observed with
ritual activities.
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The gathering cloud
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These
rites are central or crucial in strengthening community consciousness and
solidarity. A huge number of Igbo communities practice traditional rainmaking
rituals. Although rainmaking processes, materials and participants vary, most
communities believe that the tradition enables them to predict, cause, redirect
or dispel rainfall. Although some scientists have dismissed the practice as
irrelevant, irrational and ineffective, others propose its integration to
conventional meteorological approaches.