Editing Rainmaking (ritual) (section)

==African Rainmakers==
Rain is a central concern of [[Climate of Africa|low-rainfall]] African societies outside [[Equatorial Africa]], which depend on it for their sustenance and that of their animals. The power to make rain is usually attributed to [[List of kingdoms and empires in African history|African kings]]. In a number of African societies, kings who failed to produce the expected rain ran the risk of being blamed as scapegoats and killed by their people.<ref>Simonse, Simon. 1992. ''Kings of Disaster: Dualism, Centralism and the Scapegoat King in Southeastern Sudan''. Brill. Lw</ref>

===Maghreb===
==== Tunisia ====
{{Main|Omek Tannou}}
[[Omek Tannou]] is an ancient [[Tunisia]]n rainmaking ritual  which was inherited from  [[Punic]] and [[Berbers|Berber]] traditions<ref>{{cite book|language=fr|author1=AZIZA Mohamed|title=Les formes traditionnelles du spectacle|publisher=Société Tunisienne de Diffusion|year=1975 |url=https://www.abebooks.com/formes-traditionnelles-spectacle-AZIZA-Mohamed-Tunis/19867372218/bd#&gid=1&pid=3}}</ref> involving invocations of the goddess [[Tanit]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://anti-artanit.medium.com/ommek-tangou-e8af94b6c39c | title=Ommek Tangou | date=19 June 2021 }}</ref> It is now all but extinct.

===Southern Africa===
==== San people ====
Among the [[San people|San]], [[Shamanism|shamans]] enter a trance and go into the spirit world themselves to capture the animals associated with rain.<ref name=":0" />

==== Lobedu people & the Mashona people ====
A famous rain making monarch is the [[Rain Queen]] of [[Balobedu]], [[South Africa]]. '''Queen Modjadji''', or the '''Rain Queen''', is the hereditary [[Queen regnant|queen]] of [[lobedu people|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.<ref name=":1">{{Cite journal|last1=Davidson|first1=Patricia|last2=Mahashe|first2=George|date=2012|title=Visualizing the Realm of a Rain-Queen: The Production and Circulation of Eileen and Jack Krige's Lobedu Fieldwork Photographs from the 1930s|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41940661|journal=Kronos|issue=38|pages=47–81|jstor=41940661 |issn=0259-0190}}</ref> She is known as a mystical and historic figure who brought rain to her allies and drought to her enemies.<ref>{{Cite web |title=South African Balobedu People Crown 'Rain Queen' |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/a-13-a-2003-04-11-7-south/393407.html |access-date=2024-07-10 |website=Voice of America}}</ref> The [[Lozi people]] are closely related to the Balobedu and therefore also have rainmaking abilities. Queen Modjadji is believed to have come from the Shona. The [[Shona people|Shona]] have some of the most powerful rainmaking abilities of the [[Southern Bantu]] as it was mainly practiced there until the late 1500s

====Mbukushu people====
The [[Mbukushu|Hambukushu]] are renowned for their rain-making abilities in the [[Okavango Delta]], earning them the title "The Rain-makers of Okavango."<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Larson |first=Thomas J. |date=1984 |title=The Rengo Harvest Festival and the Legend of the Rain Chiefs of the Hambukushu |url=https://www.africabib.org/rec.php?RID=189568992 |journal=South African Journal of Ethnology |language=en |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=10–15}}</ref>