We have definitely been experiencing April showers around here. It’s been exciting seeing all of the plants start popping up, finally believing that SPRING IS HERE!
I mostly think of rainy days as being rather dreary (though I enjoy the dreariness very much, especially when I’m inside and can hear the raindrops falling on the tin roof of our barn). But I remember one time in Alaska (it was mid-summer) I had the amazing experience of standing on the beach up to my elbows in fish slime (as one does when one is a commercial salmon fisherman in Alaska) being in a sunshower. A sunshower is when it is raining but the sun is also shining brightly at the same time. It was amazing – each raindrop was lit up by the sun and it looked like diamonds were falling from the sky.
I searched high and low for a video that might capture it, but the closest I came was this one:
It’s much cooler when you can stand in it and look up at the drops falling down on you (a friend who has experimented with trippy things said that if you take a shower with a strobe light on it has a similar effect, but that’s definitely something to set up with adult supervision).
I learned that across the globe, there is a lot of folklore related to sunshowers. In many countries, it has something to do with weddings:
In Algeria, Bangladesh, France, Portugal, Japan, Morocco, Nepal, Sri Lanka, and various parts of India they say it’s a fox’s or wolf’s wedding when there’s a sunshower.
In Bulgaria, it’s bears getting married.
In Greece, it’s the poor getting married.
In Kenya, hyenas are getting married.
In Korea, it’s a male tiger getting married to a fox.
In northern Iran, it’s a jackal getting married.
In parts of Pakistan, it’s a one-eyed jackal’s wedding (to get even more specific)
In South Africa and Trinidad and Tobago it’s monkeys getting married
In Sudan, it’s a donkey getting married to a monkey
In other countries, it has to do with witches:
In Catalonia (part of Spain) it’s witches brushing their hair
In Poland, it’s a witch making butter
In Puerto Rico and The Dominican Republic, it’s a witch getting married
And so I wonder who was getting married, making butter, or brushing their hair in Alaska on that day when I was in a sunshower. I hope it was a monkey getting married to a donkey, because, well, wouldn’t their babies be adorable?
Have you ever imagined what a fox’s wedding might be like? Or a one-eyed jackal’s, for that matter? Draw a picture and email it to us or post it on the Bobbledy Facebook page and you could win a free item of your choice from the Bobbledy Shop!
You might have figured out (or wished, or hoped) that yesterday’s post about this month’s theme being boogers was just a joke. Hopefully you didn’t actually think we were going to post booger recipes. I posted it as a joke, but I must admit I found out some interesting things about snot and boogers while I was looking around for cool facts.
So, let’s start over again:
The Theme of the Month for April is:
RAIN!
Yes, RAIN. I’m sure this is quite a disappointment for some of you – sorry, but I think we would have lost a lot of readers for the month if we had been posting all month about boogers. If you think I am totally wrong, please vote below and we will do a booger month.
Did you know that every second, 16 MILLION tons of water falls back to Earth from the sky (in the form of rain, snow, sleet, hail, slush, mush, etc – known as PRECIPITATION, which is an excellent 5-syllable word to use to impress people. So next time it rains (or snows, or etc) if you say, “Look! It’s precipitating!” people will look at you, instead of out the window like they do when you say, “Look! It’s raining!” It’s a good trick.)
And the cool thing is that at the very same time, in the very same second, 16 MILLION tons of water moves back up into the sky from the Earth. Like backwards rain! Except it’s invisible, and called EVAPORATION, which is another impressive 5-syllable word (if you ever say, “Look! It’s evaporating!” though, people won’t know where to look, because of the whole invisible thing).
I would tell you all about it, but frankly, this video from my very favorite Bill Nye the Science Guy does it all so much better and funnier and more interestingly than I ever could. Pop up some popcorn and check it out. It is SO. GREAT.
We’re looking forward to a month of pictures and stories about rain. Email usyour interesting facts and tidbits and drawings and stories, (or post on our Facebook page) and you could win a free book! So here’s to enjoying the April showers and trusting they will bring May flowers! Go jump in some puddles! (And maybe hold onto those booger recipes for another month, pending survey results…)
