I always like looking at what web searches lead people to my blog. This is certainly the strangest one I’ve ever seen. Someone used MSN’s search engine to look for the following phrase:
what is the ritual for chinese frog
I had never heard of any such ritual, not to mention blogged about it, but doing a quick search for “chinese frog ritual” on Google I found this:
The Magwai festival was originally performed once a year in the first month of the agricultural calendar, and it lasted from three to five days for shorter performances and up to a month for longer performances. Its origin is not clear, but the Guangxi area is dry during the springtime with very little rain and, therefore, one hypothesis holds that the festival may be deeply related to prayers for rain. From the belief that thunderstorms followed whenever frogs croaked, an ancient legend held that there was a mysterious relationship between frogs and the god of thunder. Even Han poets of the Tang and Min dynasties noted that prayers for abundant harvest — singing and dancing accompanied with beating of bronze drums — were long an important part of the religious practice of the Zhuang ethnic peoples. Such instruments were used in the frog ritual as well. Pictures of frogs were etched on the inside of the bronze drums, and the beating of the bronze drums was thought to represent the croaking of frogs. Thus the ritual is said to have signified a prayer for thunder and rain.
Hopefully the next time someone comes to my blog looking for the “ritual for chinese frog” they will find what they are looking for!
