Rain can symbolize a variety of things, including renewal, cleansing, and even sadness or melancholy depending on the context. It can represent the washing away of negativity, a fresh start, or a sign of divine blessing. Conversely, in literature and art, rain is often used to evoke feelings of sadness, introspection, or foreboding.
.....The year of 1969 was a challenging year. Here are some of the main events from January to August 14th, the first day of Woodstock.
1969
January Nixons inauguration
March 4 At Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nobel Prize winner, George Wald dedicated his opposition to the Vietnam war in his speech, A Generation in search of a Future
April 19 Ithaca NY, 80 armed militant Black students from Cornell take over Willard Straight Hall demanding a Black studies program
May 15 Reagan declares martial law on UC Berkeley and entire city as they try to build planned drom buildings on Peoples Park
June 7 John Lennons Give Peace a Chance released
June 22 The Cuyahoga River (CLeveland Ohio) bursts into flames
June 27 Life Magazine publishes photos of 247 Americans killed in Vietnam in one week
June 29 - August 24 Summer of Soul (Black Woodstock) took place in Harlem
June 29 Stonewall Riots considered catalyst for modern gay rights movement
July 17 The New Left and Extreme movements from FBI (files) surfaced revealing Reagans plans to destruct the disruption on California campuses through psychological warfare
July 20 Apollo 11 lands on moon
August 9 Anniversary of Hiroshima
August 11 Israels first air attack on Lebanon
August 14 British troops sent to Northern Ireland
August 15 - 18 Woodstock took place, Bethel, NY
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Songs about rain that were important in my life:
Just a little rain / Falling on the ground / The grass lifts its head to that heavenly sound. / Just a little rain / Just a little rain / And what have they done to the rain? Malvina Reynolds (1962) , written in protest of nuclear bomb testing.
You and me and rain on the roof / Caught up in a summer shower/ . . .Maybe we'll be caught for hours / waiting for the sun. Rain on the roof, released as single, 1966, Lovin Spoonful
And I won't need my father's Jack / And I won't need my mother's Jill / But I'll be a fiddler's fiddle / And fiddle where I will. / It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring / Bumped his head and he went to bed / And he couldn't get up in the morning. / Rain, rain, go away / Come again some other day . . .(Peter, Paul and Mary / old nursery rhyme / 1969)
Ive seen fire and Ive see rain. / Ive seen sunny days that I thought would never end. / Ive seen lonely times when I could not find a friend. . . (Fire and Rain, James Taylor ((1970)
I wish it would rain / And wash my face clean / I want to find some dark cloud to hide in here. . . (Nancy Griffith) /2016)
......Who'll stop the rain (About Woodstock, Clearwater Revival / John Fogerty (1970)
Long as I remember the rain been comin' down
Clouds of mystery pourin' confusion on the ground
Good men through the ages tryin' to find the sun
And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain? /. . .
Heard the singers playin', how we cheered for more
The crowd had rushed together, tryin' to keep warm
Still the rain kept pourin', fallin' on my ears
And I wonder, still I wonder, who'll stop the rain?
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The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, held in Bethel, New York (August 15-17), experienced rain for all three days of the festival, It was brutal, turning Yasgur's fields into giant mud pits. Stages became slippery, tents collapsed, and attendees were soaked through. They were contemplating turning it into an acoustic festival because the power to the sound system kept shorting out. While the first day started sunny, and the day after the festival was also clear, rain was a major issue, turning the festival grounds into a muddy morass. Organizer Michael Lang noted it rained "probably 20 days" out of the 23 days they worked on the site,
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Ravi Shankar, who performed August 15, shared how he felt homesick when he looked out at the massive drenched audience which reminded him (in their pathos of resigned ecstatic acceptance) of water buffalo.
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Three gifts of rain: Purification / Baptism / Blessing
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Sandra Ingerman (Internationally renowned teacher [for almost 40 years] on shamanic journeying, healing, and using spiritual methods to reverse environmental pollution. She is the award-winning author of 10 books.): Climate change is human caused but also reflects the ecological evolution of the living planet. Sandra teaches the effectiveness of collective ritual and the shamanic journey. . .We can work with climate but must not let our egos get involved or our shadows get in the way of the healing. We need to (relearn) that the elements are our kin. When the elements are violent, (we should ask ourselves) what are we missing? The elements want to be honored and respected with gratitude. We have to (relearn) how to be more disciplined with our dreams and thoughts and daydreams.When we work with the elements (water, fire, earth, air) and creatures as kin and relatives, (they calm down) and reveal their teaching nature.
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Jesse Ferrell, AccuWeather meteorologist and senior weather editor:: . . . 55 years ago, half a million people gathered on a farm in Bethel, New York, for one of the world's biggest concerts and a pivotal moment in music and politics. But music wasn't the only major story to come out of Woodstock. The weather, and especially the rain, was as inextricably intertwined in the festival as were peace and love.Michael Lang ( organizer): The stage was wet, and the electricity was coming through me. I was conducting! Touching my guitar and the microphone was nearly fatal. There was a great big blue spark about the size of a baseball, and I got lifted off my feet and sent back eight or 10 feet to my amplifier.
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Me: I call this tough love.
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Woodstock attendee (on the subject of the rain) :("Woodstock" Documentary, 1970): : "It's kind of groovy. I dig it. I dig it. It gets you clean."
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Timely questions: We also live in a toxic time. Are we psychically in need of purification? Should we be praying to the rain for a cleansing?
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