(Rain gods).
I think the mistake most people make, is that they offer benefaction to the weather gods, only when their need is immediate, rather than all year round. As any ancient worshiper would tell you, gods are fickle that way.
However, when it comes to exactly who should get those offerings, it starts to get tricky.
Rain – variable Scottish rain – be it interminable drizzle, a steady pour (that’s it set for the day), or just a sudden cloudburst, does not generally appear in the heavenly mandate.
Storm gods there are aplenty with their thunderbolts and lightning and tacked-on rain; Zeus, Thor, Indra, Tlaloc, Taranis (thunder lightning, rain and, wheels?)#.
Then you have the more “agricultural deities”, who are about farming and crops, and rain (and sun) in due measure; Frey, Demeter, Xipe-Totec (also goldsmiths, and deadly warfare!).
None of these obviously have “I’d like a dry day for my outdoor event please” as a remit. Discworld does offer us “Urika” who is the “goddess of performances to an audience of under 120” – which would apply but isn’t really terribly outdoorsy.
However, the mythology of Mr Pratchet does offer a solution. In “The Hogfather” we discover, where there is sufficient belief, a deity – or perhaps more correctly an – “anthropomorphic personality” will come into existence to “fill the space”.
I’m not sure what the rules around this being might be, but it seems likely to me that one should NOT be speaking his/her/(it’s?) name, in the hope that they will not turn up.
Certain key phrases (summoning spells) are best avoided, ” Looks like it’s clearing up a bit”, “It’s supposed to brighten up later”, and certainly “It’ll pass soon”.
The late Mr P. liked to play on Latin nomenclature, so staying with that styling, I suggest;
“Umbrialis” or perhaps, “Pluvia” ..
Whichever name She prefers, I would like to offer a big vote of thanks for her complete absence from my gig-in-the-garden (despite forecasts), where not one drop of water fell all day, nor till the acoustic session ended about 3ish round the firepit. And – extra icing – while it did rain after, it was again dry for dismantling, literally to the second when the last piece of kit went away.
I don’t often get that lucky. The music was quite good too.
Next week on IaDL: Some photos maybe…
# Taranis, a kind of Celtic Jupiter, was invoked by offering a token wheel (I’m not making this up)
Dalmallyfest the Asylum 