Chapter XXXI

WEATHER PHENOMENA

As mentioned in the preceding chapter, weather was determined by agreement between sun and moon, but it appears that many things could influence their decisions.

Atsugewi assumed it to be the natural thing that it would sprinkle a little after a funeral. They also felt that rolling rocks down mountain sides or loud shouting in the mountains would cause rain. Furthermore they believed that the occurrence of precipitation could be influenced by shamans, if they felt like it, by smoking tobacco while looking at the sun. The nature of the spirit of a girl, whose ears were pierced at this time, was also thought to either cause it to rain or to stop doing so according to her spirit power.

Rainbows brought good wild crops as far as the Atsugewi were concerned. However, both they and mountain Maidu were of the opinion that pointing with a finger at a rainbow, particularly among children would cause the finger to become crooked or to fall off.

Thunder and lightning were feared by all tribes of the Lassen region. To Atsugewi thunder was the shouting of an old man who wears a rabbit skin and who goes about looking for women whom he kills. Mountain Maidu thought it to be due to an old man who lives up above and who was once a boy on earth, but who had been sent away because he was too fast and ate everything in sight. How he made the noise we do not know.

Also, according to Dixon, “Thunder is thought to be a man or boy of miraculous abilities. He eats trees chiefly. Had it not been for Mosquito, however, Thunder would have preyed on people. Mosquito deceived him, and refused to let Thunder know whence the blood and meat he brought came. Had Thunder found out that Mosquito obtained these from people, they, and not the trees, would have been his prey.” To Yana, thunder was a mythical dog originally: “... a child dug from the ground who accompanied Flint Boy to the west in the guise of a dog. He remained behind in the black storm clouds capping Bally Mountain, a high peak west of Redding, whence his terrific bark could be heard as thunder.”

Atsugewi and mountain Maidu, fearing thunder and lightning, talked to them and told them to go away. Old men in the latter tribe carried burning sticks in a circle to help drive them away. Atsugewi placed skins, preferably raccoon, on sticks held up in the air. They would wave these around and call aloud words to the effect that there are: “Too many rattlesnakes here, go some other place!”. Not only that, but frequently during a thunder storm, especially if violent, they would run into open areas, and sometimes even jump into water. Lightning was thought to be the weapon of the old man, Thunder Person, mentioned above. It came out of his mouth. Apparently Thunder Person was thought to assume the form of a raccoon on occasion. Maidu also believed that it would thunder whenever a person was bitten by a rattlesnake or when a great man died or when a woman had a miscarriage.

Whirlwinds were generally regarded as evil omens which sickened people with bad dreams and captured peoples’ shadows or spirits. Indians tried to dodge or hide from them. They spoke informally to whirlwinds. Mountain Maidu said that they put pains into people. Whenever possible, Maidu smoked tobacco when talking to whirlwinds. Atsugewi threw dirt and water at the dust devils in an effort to destroy them. Yana did likewise, but they did not believe that spirits were inside of whirlwinds.