Sunshower
A sunshower or sun shower is a meteorological phenomenon in which rain falls while the sun is shining.[1] These conditions often lead to the appearance of a rainbow, if the sun is at a low enough angle.[1] Although used in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland and Britain, the term "sunshower" is rarely found in dictionaries.[2] Additionally, the phenomenon has a wide range of sometimes remarkably similar folkloric names in cultures around the world.[3] A common theme is that of trickster animals, or the devil, getting married, although many variations of parts of this theme exist.[2][3]
It happens when the space is under a cloud but the sun is near.
Contents |
Folkloric names [edit]
Animals [edit]
- In South African English, a sunshower is referred to as a "monkey’s wedding", a loan translation of the Zulu umshado wezinkawu, a wedding for monkeys.[2] In Afrikaans, it is referred to as jakkalstrou,[2] jackals wedding, or also Jakkals trou met wolf se vrou as dit reën en die son skyn flou, meaning: "Jackal is marrying Wolf's wife when it rains and the sun shines faintly."
- In Hindi, it is also called "the foxes wedding".[2]
- In Konkani, it is called "a monkey's wedding".
- In Sinhala, it is called "the foxes wedding".
- In Bengali, it is called "the foxes wedding".
- In Brazil, people say "Rain and sun (chuva e sol), Snail's (caracol) wedding", "Sun and rain (sol e chuva), Widow's (viúva) marriage", or "Casamento da Raposa" (Fox's Wedding).
- In Korea, a male tiger gets married to a fox.
- In Japan, it is known as "kitsune no yomeiri", or "the kitsune's wedding", and means a fox's wedding ceremony is being held.
- In Sweden it's called "vitterväder".
- In Morocco, it is the "wolf's wedding".
- In Eritrea, the traditional belief is that the hyena is giving birth.
- In various African languages, leopards are getting married.
- In Kenya, hyenas are getting married.
- In Bulgaria, there is a saying about the bear marrying.[2]
- In Tamil Nadu, South India, the Tamil speaking people say that the fox and the crow/raven are getting married.
- In Mazandarani language, in north of Iran, it is also called "the jackal’s wedding".
- In parts of the United Kingdom, it is referred to as "a monkey's birthday".
- In Pashto, it is also called "Da gidarh wade" or "the jackal's wedding".
- In Pakistan Punjabi, it is also called "Kani gidh Da waye" or "one eye jackal's wedding".
- In Philippines, the traditional belief is that the wedding of a tikbalang is being held.
- In Hawaii, it is known as "Ghost Rain".
- In El Salvador, the traditional belief is that the deer is giving birth.
- In Bangladesh, the Fox is getting married "shial mamar bia hosse"
Devils [edit]
In the United States, particularly in the Southern United States, and in Hungary as well, a sunshower is said to show that "the devil is beating his wife" because he is angry God created a beautiful day. The rain is said to be his wife's tears. A regional variant from Tennessee is "the devil is kissing his wife".[4][5] In French, the phrase is "Le diable bat sa femme et marie sa fille"[6] (i.e., "the devil is beating his wife and marrying his daughter"). In the Netherlands they say that there is a "funfair going on in hell". [7]
Other variations [edit]
In Lithuanian and Estonian (vaeslapse pisarad), the phenomenon is described as "orphans' tears", where the sun is the grandmother drying those tears. In Russian, it is called грибной дождь (gribnoy dozhd'), "mushroom rain", as such conditions are considered favorable to growing mushrooms.[8]
In Indonesian, the phenomenon is the sign of someone who is rich and well known has died in the place where the sunshower happened. So the sky showing its condolences.
In Catalonia it is said that the witches are brushing their hair, "les bruixes es pentinen."
In Afrikaans it is said that Wolf and Jackal gets married, "Wolf en Jakkals trou."
In the Dominican Republic, it is said that a witch is getting married.
In Haiti, it is said that a zombie is beating his wife for salty food. Devil is sometimes interchanged for zombie.
See also [edit]
References [edit]
- ^ a b Symonds, Steve, Weather Terms - Wild Weather, 2004, ABC North Coast, Retrieved November 2006.
- ^ a b c d e f Quinion, Michael, Monkey's Wedding, 2001, World Wide Words, Retrieved November 2006
- ^ a b Vaux, Bert, Sunshower summary, 1998,linguistlist.org, retrieved November 2006
- ^ Sunshower at Word Detective. Accessed August 6, 2007.
- ^ Sunshower Devil Thread on Snopes.com. Accessed August 6, 2007.
- ^ Samson, D. N. (1920). English into French: Five Thousand English Locutions Rendered into Idiomatic French, London: Humphrey Milford at Oxford University Press (digital copy at Archive.org, OCLC 259775152), p. 102: "It rains and shines at the same time : Le diable bat sa femme et marie sa fille"
- ^ http://www.woorden.org/spreekwoord.php?woord=kermis%20in%20de%20hel
- ^ A Way with Words
Bibliography [edit]
- Blust, Robert (1998) The Fox's Wedding. Manuscript, University of Hawaii.
- Evgen'jeva, A. P., ed. (1985-) Slovar' russkogo jazyka v 4 tomakh, 3rd edition. Moscow.
- Kuusi, Matti (1957) Regen bei Sonnenschein: Zur Weltgeschichte einer Redensart. "Folklore Fellows Communications" n. 171, Helsinki 1957 (it appeared translated into Italian in the journal "Quaderni di Semantica" 13 (1992) and 14 (1993)).
- Hoffmann-Krayer, E. (1930–31) Handwörterbuch des deutschen Aberglaubens. Berlin and Leipzig: Walter de Gruyter.
External links [edit]
- Akira Kurosawa's film "Dreams" has a segment about a young boy witnessing a fox wedding procession during a sunshower.
