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Rainmaking (ritual)
Rainmaking is a weather modification ritual that attempts to invoke rain. Among the best known examples of weather modification rituals are North American rain dances, historically performed by many Native American tribes, particularly in the Southwestern United States. Some of these weather modification rituals are still implemented today. Examples North America Julia M. Buttree (the wife of Ernest Thompson Seton) describes the rain dance of the Zuni, along with other Native American dances, in her book ''The Rhythm of the Redman''. Feathers and turquoise, or other blue items, are worn during the ceremony to symbolize wind and rain respectively. Details on how best to perform the Rain Dance have been passed down by oral tradition. In an early sort of meteorology, Native Americans in the midwestern parts of the modern United States often tracked and followed known weather patterns while offering to perform a rain dance for settlers in return for trade items. This is best docu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harar Dance
Harar ( amh, ሐረር; Harari: ሀረር; om, Adare Biyyo; so, Herer; ar, هرر) known historically by the indigenous as Gey (Harari: ጌይ ''Gēy'', ) is a walled city in eastern Ethiopia. It is also known in Arabic as the City of Saints ( ar, مدينة الأَوْلِيَاء). Harar is the capital city of the Harari Region. The ancient city is located on a hilltop in the eastern part of the country and is about five hundred kilometers from the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa at an elevation of . For centuries, Harar has been a major commercial center, linked by the trade routes with the rest of Ethiopia, the entire Horn of Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Asia, and through its ports, the outside world. Harar Jugol, the old walled city, was listed as a World Heritage Site in 2006 by UNESCO in recognition of its cultural heritage. Because of Harar's long history of involvement during times of trade in the Arabian Peninsula, the Government of Ethiopia has made it a crimina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
2010–13 Southern United States Drought
1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. In conventions of sign where zero is considered neither positive nor negative, 1 is the first and smallest positive integer. It is also sometimes considered the first of the infinite sequence of natural numbers, followed by 2, although by other definitions 1 is the second natural number, following 0. The fundamental mathematical property of 1 is to be a multiplicative identity, meaning that any number multiplied by 1 equals the same number. Most if not all properties of 1 can be deduced from this. In advanced mathematics, a multiplicative identity is often denoted 1, even if it is not a number. 1 is by convention not considered a prime number; this was not universally accepted until the mid-20th century. Additionally, 1 is the s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Frazer
Sir James George Frazer (; 1 January 1854 – 7 May 1941) was a Scottish social anthropologist and folklorist influential in the early stages of the modern studies of mythology and comparative religion. Personal life He was born on 1 January 1854 in Glasgow, Scotland, the son of Katherine Brown and Daniel F. Frazer, a chemist. Frazer attended school at Springfield Academy and Larchfield Academy in Helensburgh. He studied at the University of Glasgow and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he graduated with honours in classics (his dissertation was published years later as ''The Growth of Plato's Ideal Theory'') and remained a Classics Fellow all his life. From Trinity, he went on to study law at the Middle Temple, but never practised. Four times elected to Trinity's Title Alpha Fellowship, he was associated with the college for most of his life, except for the year 1907–1908, spent at the University of Liverpool. He was knighted in 1914, and a public lectureship in socia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nature Spirits
Animism (from Latin: ' meaning 'breath, spirit, life') is the belief that objects, places, and creatures all possess a distinct spiritual essence. Potentially, animism perceives all things—animals, plants, rocks, rivers, weather systems, human handiwork, and perhaps even words—as animated and alive. Animism is used in the anthropology of religion, as a term for the belief system of many Indigenous peoples, especially in contrast to the relatively more recent development of organized religions. Animism focuses on the metaphysical universe, with a specific focus on the concept of the immaterial soul. Although each culture has its own mythologies and rituals, animism is said to describe the most common, foundational thread of indigenous peoples' "spiritual" or "supernatural" perspectives. The animistic perspective is so widely held and inherent to most indigenous peoples, that they often do not even have a word in their languages that corresponds to "animism" (or even "reli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wu (shaman)
''Wu'' () is a Chinese term translating to "shaman" or "sorcerer", originally the practitioners of Chinese shamanism or "Wuism" (巫教 ''wū jiào''). Terminology The glyph ancestral to modern is first recorded in bronze script, where it could refer to shamans or sorcerers of either sex. Modern Mandarin ''wu'' (Cantonese ''mouh'') continues a Middle Chinese ''mju'' or ''mjo''. The Old Chinese reconstruction is uncertain, given as *''mywo'' or as *''myag'', the presence of a final velar ''-g'' or ''-ɣ'' in Old Chinese being uncertain. By the late Zhou Dynasty (4th to 3rd centuries BCE), ''wu'' referred mostly to female shamans or "sorceresses", while male sorcerers were named ''xi'' "male shaman; sorcerer", first attested in the Guoyu (book), ''Guoyu'' or '' Discourses of the States'' (4th century BCE). Other sex-differentiated shaman names include ''nanwu'' for "male shaman; sorcerer; wizard"; and ''nüwu'' , ''wunü'' , ''wupo'' , and ''wuyu'' for "female shaman; sorceress; ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ethiopia
Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east and northeast, Kenya to the south, South Sudan to the west, and Sudan to the northwest. Ethiopia has a total area of . As of 2022, it is home to around 113.5 million inhabitants, making it the 13th-most populous country in the world and the 2nd-most populous in Africa after Nigeria. The national capital and largest city, Addis Ababa, lies several kilometres west of the East African Rift that splits the country into the African and Somali tectonic plates. Anatomically modern humans emerged from modern-day Ethiopia and set out to the Near East and elsewhere in the Middle Paleolithic period. Southwestern Ethiopia has been proposed as a possible homeland of the Afroasia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sahara Desert
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South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countries of Namibia, Botswana, and Zimbabwe; and to the east and northeast by Mozambique and Eswatini. It also completely enclaves the country Lesotho. It is the southernmost country on the mainland of the Old World, and the second-most populous country located entirely south of the equator, after Tanzania. South Africa is a biodiversity hotspot, with unique biomes, plant and animal life. With over 60 million people, the country is the world's 24th-most populous nation and covers an area of . South Africa has three capital cities, with the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government based in Pretoria, Bloemfontein, and Cape Town respectively. The largest city is Johannesburg. About 80% of the population are Black S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Balobedu
The Lobedu or Balobedu ''(''also known as the BaLozwi or Bathobolo'')'' are a southern African ethnic group. Their area is called Bolobedu. They are initially known as Bakwebo (wild pigs). The name "balobedu" means "the mineral miners" lobela / go loba - to mine , their ancestors are part of the great Mapungbuwe early civilization. They have their own kingdom, the Balobedu Kingdom, within the Limpopo Province of South Africa with a female ruler, the Rain Queen Modjadji. It is estimated that there is around 1 million BaLobedu in South Africa . Their population is found in Greater Letaba Local Municipality (171 011 or 80.4% - 2011 census), Greater Tzaneen Local Municipality (200 000 or 46% - 2011 census), Ba-Phalaborwa Local Municipality (70 000 or 47% - 2011 census), Greater Giyani Local Municipality (20 000 or 6.4% - 2011 census) and smaller villages of Limpopo. Some are found in Gauteng province as labour migrants, especially in Tembisa and Alexandra townships. Languag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rain Queen
Queen Modjadji, or the Rain Queen, is the hereditary queen of Balobedu, a people of the Limpopo Province of South Africa. The Rain Queen is believed to have special powers, including the ability to control the clouds and rainfall. Modjadji Royal council have a new King. The traditional installation of Prince Lekukela Modjadji as the king of the Balobedu took place at Khetlhakoni Royal Palace in Modjadjiskloof outside Tzaneen in Limpopo. Princess Masalanabo who was expected to be the next Rain Queen will take a position reserved for her to be Khadikholo (great aunt) of Balobedu Nation. History There are several different stories relating to the creation and history of the Rain Queens of Balobedu. One story states that an old chief in 16th century Monomotapa (South eastern Zimbabwe), was told by his ancestors that by impregnating his daughter, Dzugundini, she would gain rain-making skills. Another story involves a scandal in the same chief's house, in which the chief's son i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OCLC (identifier)
OCLC, Inc., doing business as OCLC, See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the Ohio College Library Center, then became the Online Computer Library Center as it expanded. In 2017, the name was formally changed to OCLC, Inc. OCLC and thousands of its member libraries cooperatively produce and maintain WorldCat, the largest online public access catalog (OPAC) in the world. OCLC is funded mainly by the fees that libraries pay (around $217.8 million annually in total ) for the many different services it offers. OCLC also maintains the Dewey Decimal Classification system. History OCLC began in 1967, as the Ohio College Library Center, through a collaboration of university presidents, vice presidents, and library directors who wanted to create a cooperative, computerized network for librar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
