Mystical Rainbows across the Globe~!

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When the Vikings inhabited Ireland, they stored hordes of treasure all over the land. According to the legends, when they left, they forgot to take several stashes of gold with them.

The leprechauns found the gold and divided it among themselves. But they knew the riches of the Vikings had been collected through wicked deeds, and this deepened their mistrust of humans.

The leprechauns decided that humans could not have the gold because of what their greed would make them do. They stored the coins in pots and buried them deep underground where humans could not find them. However, according to the stories, a rainbow will end where a leprechaun has hidden his pot of gold.

Dating back to Old Europe, the legend of the pot of gold is claimed enthusiastically by the Irish. Rainbows always fascinated me and I was delighted, when I found so many stories about rainbows all over the world.

• The Incas believed that rainbows were a gift from the sun god

• Ancient Arabians saw them as sky tapestries woven by the south wind

• Both Norse and Navajo sages told of radiant arcs bridging the gulf between heaven and earth.

• According to Polish folklore,angels leave gold at the ends of rainbows,
but only a naked man can find it.

• According to Kenyan legend, God creates two rainbows -male and female-
which must work together to stop the rain.

• Like the sailor’s proverbial red skies, rainbows at night are said to portend fair weather.

• Old Testatment, God shows Noah a rainbow as a gesture of mercy to mankind after the Flood.

• A Mayan tale tells of a rainbow ending an epoch of fiery rain and destruction.

• The Mojave Indians of Arizona look upon the rainbow
as a succession of charms needed by the Creator to bring the rain to an end.
To terminate a violent storm, the entire sequence of colors is needed.

• In African mythology the rainbow is thought of as a
giant snake that comes out after rainfall to graze;
and the hapless person upon whom he falls will be devoured.

• The Shoshoni Indians believe the firmament is a dome of ice
against which the rainbow, a giant serpent, rubs his back.
Particles of ice thus are rubbed off and fall to the earth,
in winter as snow, in summer as rain.

• Among Finns and Lapps it was the sickle or bow of the Thunder God,
a skillful archer whose arrow is the lightning.

• In middle and northern Asia it is related that the rainbow
is a camel with three persons on its back:
the first beats a drum (thunder); a second waves a scarf (lightning);
and the third draws reins causing water (rain) to run from the camels mouth.

• The Blackfoot Indians called the rainbow “Rain’s Hat”
or “The Old Man’s Fish Line,” or “The Lariat.”

• Among Germanic myths is one which looks on the rainbow
as the bowl which God used at the time of creation in tinting the birds.

• To the Greenlander the rainbow has been the hem of a god’s garment;
to the ancient Welsh, the chair of the goddess Ceridwen.

• Primitive Peruvians held the rainbow in such awe
that they remained silent during its duration.

Personally I still hope to find that pot of gold one day!

SERENDIPITY PHOTO STORY PROMPT

WEDNESDAY – 2015 #6