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27-546: Driberg's 1922 study states that "The Didinga have a very strong tradition that they arrived at their present habitat from the S. E., travelling through country now inhabited by Dodoth round the S. Shore of Lake Rudolph. The date of this migration is entirely unknown, but it was probably comparatively recent. In the XVI century this area was inhabited by tribes of the Shilluk cluster until they were dispersed by semi-Hamitic invaders from

54-438: A company . It is also used to describe a confidence trick where the scammer takes money from the victim to influence a system over which they have no real control, but a random chance of the outcome happening anyway. Since the 1940s, cloud seeding has been used to change the structure of clouds by dispersing substances into the air, potentially increasing or altering rainfall. In spite of experiments dating back to at least

81-531: A marked nominative case system, and VSO order but sentence-final question words. The Tennet people practice swidden agriculture . They grow sorghum mostly on the plains below the villages, but they also cultivate fields on the mountainsides. They raise cattle, which are the main measure of wealth and are used for bride wealth , and they also hunt, fish, and raise goats and sheep. However, they are primarily dependent on sorghum, and drought can cause severe food shortages. The Tennet communities are governed by

108-660: A language that distinguishes them from all other groups in the Sudan. Their language, often called the Murle-Didinga language, is also spoken by a group living in southwest Ethiopia. The Didinga claim to have lived in southwest Ethiopia two hundred years ago. During their migration to the Didinga Hills, the Didinga, Murle, Tennet and Boya were one group. They lived in harmony in Sudan until a hunting-party dispute caused

135-486: Is pentatonic which is "Rugumon" . Carved flutes are common around the villages, and drums are used during dances. Rainmaking Rainmaking , also known as artificial precipitation, artificial rainfall and pluviculture , is the act of attempting to artificially induce or increase precipitation , usually to stave off drought or the wider global warming . According to the clouds ' different physical properties, this can be done using airplanes or rockets to sow to

162-594: Is also a common cultural practice for Christians and Muslims. In some Christian areas, clerics of the Eastern Orthodox Church are believed to possess the power to arrest rain, bring hail to the farms of wayward souls, as well as to bring rain when the rainy season falls short. The term is also used metaphorically to describe the process of bringing new clients into a professional practice, such as law, architecture, consulting, advertising, or investment banking—in general, processes that bring money into

189-460: Is consumed daily and made into butter. Didinga also consume fresh blood drawn from the necks of cattle with miniature arrows. The Didinga do not fish at all, because the eating of fish is taboo in their culture. The Didinga live in scattered homesteads, with each clan grouped together. Homes are round with cone-shaped roofs. During certain seasons and during grazing periods, the Didinga also live in rustic camps. An important aspect of Didinga society

216-491: Is estimated at 30,000 people. The Tennet have an account of how they were once part of a larger group, which also included what are now Murle , Didinga , and Laarim Boya , the other members of the Southwest Surmic language family. Members of a hunting party speared an oribi , but after cooking it, they drank the broth themselves instead of giving it to the elders according to custom. A disagreement arose, and in

243-465: Is the organization of 'Nyekerehet' (age-grades) for boys. Every three to five years, boys who are around eight years old are placed together to form a new "age-grade." These boys work and play together until they are married. Their traditional beliefs and religious practices include having a tribal rainmaker who is entrusted with performing certain rituals to bring rain. Didinga also worship and sacrifice to spirits and gods and place great importance upon

270-726: The New Sudan Council of Churches . An attempt by the SPLA in June 2006 to disarm Lorot's militia was ignored, with the group threatening to start fighting again. For many years, the Didinga enjoyed a quiet, rural life. They took great pride in raising cattle and owned large herds that were supervised by the young single Didinga men. However, in 1963, a political disturbance which lasted until 1973 caused many Didinga to leave their cattle behind and to migrate to Uganda . While in Uganda, for

297-615: The Vietnam War in order to slow Vietnamese military truck activity in the region, though this claim happened 60 years later by anti-government groups. Rainmaking is not climate engineering , which seeks to alter the climate, but a form of weather modification , as it seeks only to change local weather. Austrian-American psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich designed a " cloudbuster " in the United States with which he said he could manipulate streams of " orgone energy " (which he claimed

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324-401: The Didinga as the herding of cattle is. The traditional values associated with raising cattle remain embedded in all Didinga. Many still take great pleasure in owning large herds. Their new-found hope for change that was brought back from their temporary migration also remains instilled in their daily lives. The Didinga use their cattle not only as a means of wealth, but also for their milk that

351-523: The East. These gradually tended to extend and drift southwards (vide the Masai), and it is possible that some ancient metal workings traceable in old slag-heaps at Latome, Lotyathe and other parts of the present Didinga country may be attributed to these XVI century invaders." Driberg published a small collection of their songs and poems. The Didinga, Boya, Tennet , Murle and Mursi of Southwest Ethiopia share

378-734: The Murle to leave. Later, a famine caused the Boya to withdraw. Today, though the groups have separated, their language remains the same. Their most urban town is Chukudum , a historic town that hosted the first Sudan People's Liberation Movement (SPLM) National Convention in 1994. During the Second Sudanese Civil War (1983–2005) tensions with the Dinka people built up after the Dinka-dominated SPLA forces moved into

405-460: The area in 1985. They came to a head in 1999 when the Didinga officer Peter Lorot was passed over for promotion in favor of a Dinka , assassinated his rival and took to the woods with his supporters. The fighting with Lorot's forces displaced about 16,800 people from Chukudum to nearby villages in the highlands. The "Chukudom Crisis" was resolved in August 2002 during a Peace Conference organized by

432-472: The clouds with catalysts such as dry ice , silver iodide and salt powder, to make clouds rain or increase precipitation, to remove or mitigate farmland drought , to increase reservoir irrigation water or water supply capacity, to increase water levels for hydropower generation, or even to solve the global warming problem. In the United States, rainmaking was attempted by traveling showmen. It

459-491: The east and west, Pari to the northwest, Greater Pibor and Bor to the north, and Toposa and Laarim to the northeast. They have, nevertheless, maintained a strong ethnic identity and resisted absorption by neighbouring communities by conserving their culture and language. They are still using Tennet. The Tennet home area consists of fifteen (15) villages in the north of Torit in Eastern Equatoria . Tennet population

486-555: The end, they separated, splitting into four smaller groups. The other three groups have similar stories. Some estimates place this event in the early nineteenth century. The Tennet learned ironworking from the Bari people. However, during Sudan's civil wars , blacksmith activity decreased. Tennet is a Nilo-Saharan , Eastern Sudanic , Surmic language. It has several of the features common in other Surmic languages: Implosive consonants , multiple strategies for marking numbers on nouns,

513-480: The first time in their lives, Didinga were exposed to large-scale farming . Also, their children were introduced to education. These experiences created in the people the desires to make money and to gain knowledge, things which had been unimportant in the Hills. When they returned to Sudan in 1973, the people were filled with a new vision for a more advanced life. They hoped to incorporate into their own culture many of

540-443: The ideas and concepts they had learned in Uganda. They were met, however, with a drastic decrease in the numbers in their herds: clansmen who had remained in the Hills had failed to restock the cattle during the disturbance. Today, many Didinga are still working to enlarge their herds. They purchase cattle either through the exchange of grain or beer, or with money. At present, farming and the desire for an education are as important to

567-548: The ruling age set, called the Machigi Looch , (this word means the rulers and the owners of the land). The Members of the Machigi Looch are young men who are old enough to participate in warfare (cattle raiding and defence of the village). They make decisions, but they are also held accountable by the retired Machigi Looch, the elders. A new group of Machigi Looch is initiated about every twelve years. Tennet music

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594-416: The start of the 20th century, however, there is much controversy surrounding the efficacy of cloud seeding, and evidence that cloud seeding leads to increased precipitation on the ground is highly equivocal. One difficulty is knowing how much precipitation might have fallen had any particular cloud not been seeded. Operation Popeye was a US military rainmaking operation to increase rains over Vietnam during

621-512: The world, rain dances and other rituals have been used to stimulate rainfall. Some Native Americans used rain dances extensively. European examples include ceremonies in the Balkans known as Perperuna and Dodola and Caloian . Some US farmers attempt to bring rain during droughts through prayer. These rituals differ greatly in their specifics, but share a common concern with bringing rain through spiritual means. Typical of these ceremonies

648-510: The worship of dead ancestors. Tennet people The Tennet people (referred to as "Tennet" in early language studies [1]) are South Sudanese. Their language is sometimes referred to as Ngaarit. Tennet traditional dances are divided into the following categories: Lalu, Nyaliliya, Loduk, and so on The majority of the Tennets are reported to be bilingual. They speak the languages of the neighbouring communities. They are bordered by Lopit to

675-399: Was a primordial cosmic energy) in the atmosphere to induce rain by forcing clouds to form and disperse. It was a set of hollow metal pipes and cables inserted into water, which Reich argued created a stronger orgone energy field than was in the atmosphere, the water drawing the atmospheric orgone through the pipes. Reich called his research "Cosmic Orgone Engineering". In many societies around

702-651: Was practiced on the American frontier , but may have reached a peak during the Dust Bowl drought of the US west and midwest in the 1930s. The practice was depicted in the 1956 film The Rainmaker . Attempts to bring rain directly have waned with development of the science of meteorology , laws against fraud, and improved weather forecasting, with some exceptions such as cloud seeding and forms of prayer including rain dances , which are still practiced today. Prayers for rain

729-550: Was the public prayer service for rain by then-governor of Georgia , Sonny Perdue , in 2007. In Muslim societies, in times of calamity such as drought, the Imam is asked to provide spiritual help to the community in the hope of inducing God to fall rain ( Rain_prayer ). The rain prayer (Arabic: صلاة الاستسقاء; ṣalāt al-istisqa, "rain request prayer") is a sunnah salah (Islamic prayer) for requesting and seeking rain water from God. A Muslim prayer offered to God seeking rain water. Indeed,

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