Read the signs

Tribal communities believe that nature provides signs of the oncoming season, but climate change has made traditional weather forecast methods unreliable

- TANVI JHA RANCHI

IF THE lipi bird (common swift or Apus apus) makes its nest larger than usual, it is an indication that the rainfall in the coming season will be feeble. The vice versa is also true,” says Ashok Munda, gram pradhan (village head) of Chitramu village in Jharkhand’s Khunti district. “There are many such signs that help us assess and prepare for the coming season,” he says.

Since time immemorial, tribal communities of Jharkhand have kept track of the weather in their area through reading what Munda calls “signals of nature”. Quite a few of these signals pertain to the monsoon, which is understandable considering the season’s importance in rain-fed agriculture practices of tribal communities. Sample the following cases.

A day before Sarhul—a nature festival celebrated in the month of Chaitra (March-April), the first month of the year as per the Hindu calendar—two earthen pots are filled with water up to a marked level and then checked the next day. If the water level has decreased, it indicates less-than-normal rainfall during the monsoon, while no change in the level reflects that the rain will be normal. Similarly, on the day of Karma festival—celebrated in July-August—a basket made of bamboo is hung through a rope and bamboo stick. It is believed rainfall will continue till the rope breaks. “Flowers are a great sign of rain too. If the spacing between amaltas (