{"id":1603,"date":"2021-08-14T14:17:43","date_gmt":"2021-08-14T14:17:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/?p=1603"},"modified":"2021-08-14T14:09:56","modified_gmt":"2021-08-14T14:09:56","slug":"rainoh-rain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/rainoh-rain","title":{"rendered":"Rain,Oh Rain"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – Eritrea<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>When my friends and I were recently discussing \u2018Things Fall Apart,\u2019 by Chinua Achebe, one of the most widely read African novels, we were arguing over the traditions of the tribes portrayed in the book, especially the one re\u00adlated to agriculture and rainmak\u00ading rituals.<\/p>\n

One of my friends described the tradition as backward and super\u00adstitious. Her comments made me wonder what foreigners will say about our traditions and culture if we, as Africans, describe our cultural and traditional practices like that. I am not by any means claiming that our traditions do not have bad sides to them. What I am saying is that to consider them all backward is unrealistic.<\/p>\n

A good example that helped me persuade my friend is the power of empirical knowledge aiding in the life of African farmers, the Nganyi rainmakers of Bunyore tribe of the Luhya community of western Kenya. The Nganyi rain\u00admakers are known by Kenya\u2019s meteorological department, re\u00adsearch institutes, and universities for their competence in perfecting the science of rainmaking which they have long used in advising local communities about when and what to plant based on weath\u00ader patterns.<\/p>\n

Climate change is one of the biggest challenges facing human beings. Therefore, climate-related information and agro-advisory services are crucial for smallhold\u00ader farmers and pastoralists in Af\u00adrica to help them manage climate-related risks and adapt to climate change.<\/p>\n

Many farmers and pastoralists rely on indigenous knowledge (IK), where an institutionalized local place-based knowledge root\u00aded in local cultures is often passed on across generations through oral history. IK is influenced by the previous generations\u2019 obser\u00advations and experimentations and provides an inherent connection to one\u2019s surroundings and envi\u00adronment. IK weather forecasting is very well established in many African cultures and communi\u00adties, with different indicators used by various communities and cul\u00adtures to predict future weather conditions. Farmers, pastoralists and indigenous experts in Africa observe local weather phenom\u00adenon; the behavior of insects, ani\u00admals, and plants; the direction of winds; and the types of clouds to forecast local weather conditions, the intensity and distribution of rainfall, the occurrence and mag\u00adnitude of droughts and floods. Forecast information is dissemi\u00adnated directly from IK experts or indirectly through village assem\u00adblies, relatives and friends.<\/p>\n

In Eritrea\u2019s tradition, clouds have always been associated with rain. Two well-known rain clouds \u2014 a dark, rain carrying cloud of bad weather and a cloud that pro\u00adduces showers and thunderstorms \u2014 are used for forecasting. The Eritrean indigenous meteorologi\u00adcal indicators that are used to give forecasts about the onset and in\u00adtensity of rain include the appear\u00adance of dark clouds, the direction and strength of the wind, very high night temperatures, light\u00adning and thunder at night with no rain, and appearance of less dew on grass and plants. Also high temperature is known as the best predictor of the onset of rainfall. Excessive heat and warming to\u00adwards the end of the dry season indicates a higher likelihood of above normal rainfall while high temperatures during the night in\u00addicate a likelihood of rainfall the next day. Strong winds and whirl winds, known as Hebobla, indi\u00adcate an onset of imminent rainfall while repeated lightning in the evening during the dry season is an indication of the onset of short-rain season.<\/p>\n

In general, our grandfathers used to predict that it is about to start raining by observing subtle changes in nature and making in\u00adterpretations of how plants react and animal behaviors. They are able to predict with high precision and accuracy the local weather, particularly the timing and inten\u00adsity of rains and drought. More\u00adover, Mehlela, the rites which accompany prayers for rain, is performed almost every day in the run-up to the rainy season and when the so anxiously awaited rain has fallen, the community immediately arranges for a plant\u00ading ceremony where the seeds are blessed to ensure good harvest.<\/p>\n

Lack of rain is usually associ\u00adated with sin and, therefore, the high priest urges the people to cleanse themselves of sins com\u00admitted against one another, the environment and God, creating a platform for the community to have peace by forgiving one an\u00adother.<\/p>\n

Like my friend many may dis\u00admiss aspects of African indig\u00adenous knowledge as primitive and magic. This perspective, however, misses the whole point of the in\u00addigenous knowledge, whose pur\u00adpose is not simply to give, for ex\u00adample, weather forecast but also to give hope to the farmers.<\/p>\n

Fortunately, Africa has a wealth of knowledge that African com\u00admunities have long used to sustain themselves in the face of climate change. Many African communi\u00adties have used indigenous knowl\u00adedge as a critical strategic base and survival tool during extreme climate events and other natu\u00adral hazards. African indigenous knowledge is knowledge that an African community has built-up, accumulated and handed down through generations. It encom\u00adpasses every aspect of that com\u00admunity\u2019s existence, including its holistic understanding of local ecology, education, art, technol\u00adogy, medicine, norms, social organization, spirituality and worldview. Such knowledge is place-based and rooted in local cultures and is generally asso\u00adciated with a community\u2019s strong interactions with their natural en\u00advironments.<\/p>\n

Ignoring our tradition and rely\u00ading exclusively on science might destroy the centuries-old knowl\u00adedge our forefathers have accu\u00admulated which may hold the so\u00adlution to the environmental crisis human beings are facing due to climate change.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Eritrea. When my friends and I were recently discussing \u2018Things Fall Apart,\u2019 by Chinua Achebe, one of the most widely read African novels, we were arguing over the traditions of the tribes portrayed in the book, especially the one re\u00adlated to agriculture and rainmak\u00ading rituals. One of my friends described the tradition as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":1602,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,6,8,16],"tags":[242,243,233],"class_list":["post-1603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-files","category-homepage-english","category-twitter","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-eritrea","tag-eritrea"],"yoast_head":"\nRain,Oh Rain - Eritrea<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When my friends and I were recently discussing \u2018Things Fall Apart,\u2019 by Chinua Achebe, one of the most widely read Africa ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/rainoh-rain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Rain,Oh Rain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When my friends and I were recently discussing \u2018Things Fall Apart,\u2019 by Chinua Achebe, one of the most widely read Africa ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/rainoh-rain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Eritrea\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-14T14:17:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2021\/08\/img-6117ce9e7b39b.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"378\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/rainoh-rain#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/rainoh-rain\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Rain,Oh Rain\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-14T14:17:43+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/rainoh-rain\"},\"wordCount\":918,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/rainoh-rain#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/sites\/27\/2021\/08\/img-6117ce9e7b39b.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Africa Press\",\"Africa Press-Eritrea\",\"Eritrea\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"files\",\"homepage-english\",\"twitter\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/rainoh-rain#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/rainoh-rain\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/eritrea\/all-news\/rainoh-rain\",\"name\":\"Rain,Oh Rain - 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