Rain Bird is a character of Pueblo mythology, most popular among the Zuni, Hopi, Tao, and Kere tribes. The power of the Rain Bird’s flight and the melody of its song represent the significance of rain for Pueblos, who see in the falling of rain a communication between the earth and the sky. Rain Bird is also a messenger who teaches the people how to summon the rain, which testifies to its supernatural powers.
The Pueblos are indigenous communities of the American Southwest, predominantly living in Arizona and New Mexico. They are so named for the pueblos that they built and lived in, which are multistoried housing systems made mainly of adobe mud. The Pueblos observed birds living in their area for centuries and ascribed many different meanings to them, some of which represent the Rain Bird character today. Birds that symbolize the powers of the Rain Bird for Pueblos are mainly the dove, hummingbird, swallow, and swift.
Doves, being the most visible birds in the Pueblo lands, came to represent the rain because of their habit of living by springs to which they return at dusk to drink. Their songs are also significant: the voice of the dove invokes the movement of water and is a sign of the coming of rain. Among Keresian Pueblos, who have dove clans, some believe that the dove in its song indicates the places where one can find a pool of water. The Zunis tell a story of how the dove used prayers of the Shi’wanni (rain priests) to bring the rain when the priests failed to do so. This story ends tragically, however, with an old Cooper’s Hawk swooping down, eating the praying dove, and stopping the rain. The Hopis see the dove as the one who helps locate springs (and by implication brings the rain).
Swallows and swifts symbolize the rain by the magical manner of their flight. Swallows catch insects, circling and dipping just above the water pools, while swifts pick the water up on the wing, at full speed. Both types of birds represent the dances of the raindrops. The swallows also appear before and after the rain as signs of the rain coming and going. Zuni rain priests ask the swallows to sing, or better, call for the rain. Swallows figure in the Keres’ famous myth “The Battle of the Seasons,” where they follow the spirit of the South. Another Keresian tale, which explains why Spring is called Frog’s Husband’s House, connects the swallow with the frog, an amphibian who happens to sing rain songs as well. The Hopis’ creation story gives the swallow the role of savior. When the people come from the Underworld, having forgotten to bring the seeds with them, the God of Dew sends Swallow—which can enter holes—to bring back the seed of corn, originally planted in the ground to save the people. Similar to doves, swallows have a dialogue that represents the talking of raindrops and relates the sky to the earth. Unlike the doves, though, swallows are most venerated for their magical flight, which is also directed downward and mirrors the falling of the rain.
The last among the birds who represent the Rain Bird is the hummingbird, who acts as an intermediary between the sun, the rain, and the flowers. Its beautiful bright colors resemble the appearance of a rainbow. The Zunis believe that these colors come from the bird flying through the rainbow. Once, a demon played a game with the son of the Sun and lost. In his rage, blinded by the son of the Sun, he set the world on fire. Many birds perished trying to put out the fire before the hummingbird came. As it summoned the tides, the hummingbird flew through the rainbow and gained its colors. The clouds came, rain fell, and the world was saved.
The hummingbird also brings relief from dry spells. Hummingbirds like nectar, which is the moistest part of a flower, signifying the moisture of the rain. In Pueblo areas, hummingbirds would particularly like the nectar of the tobacco plant, the leaves of which Pueblos used for the rain rituals. They would light the leaves and blow smoke (considered to be a purifying element) in all directions, hoping to induce rain clouds. The forms of tobacco puffs resemble the clouds and appeal to the clouds in the sky. For Keres, the hummingbird rituals are particularly important. They believe that dry spells might be caused by the lack of belief in the Mother Goddess. Only the hummingbird—a messenger to the Mother Goddess during the time of the drought—never ceases to believe in Mother Goddess. In gratitude for this loyalty, the Mother Goddess tells the hummingbird to suck the nectar from the flowers to survive the drought and hunger. In addition, hummingbirds move very quickly, thus fitting their roles as messengers quite accurately. In the Zunis’ creation story, the hummingbird is one of the guides to bring people to the world from the Underground.
The Rain Bird is not a well-known character in North American folklore, despite the significance of this character for the Pueblo peoples. As in the past, some among the Pueblo rain priests use feathers from the birds, representing the Rain Bird, in their ceremonial offerings and at times in traditional medicine practices. Since the late 1930s, Rain Bird has come to represent a particular style design of commercialized Zuni pottery, which perhaps is the most prominent channel of introducing the character to the general public, keeping the Rain Bird alive, albeit embodied in contemporary cultural forms.
Krystle DiCristofalo, Ash DiCristofalo, Thomas Gosart, and Ulia Popova
See also Cetan; Great Spirit; Piasa; Thunderbird
Further Reading
Applegate, Frank. 1994. Indian Stories from the Pueblos. Bedford, MA: Applewood Books.
Koenig, Seymour H. 1972. Sky, Sand, and Spirits: Navajo and Pueblo Indian Art and Culture. Yonkers, NY: Hudson River Museum.
Mera, H. P. 1970. Pueblo Designs: The “Rain Bird.” Mineola, NY: Dover.
Pijoan, Teresa. 2000. Pueblo Indian Wisdom: Native American Legends and Mythology. Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press.
Tyler, Hamilton. 1991. Pueblo Birds and Myths. Flagstaff, AZ: Northland.