According to the Biblical account, after Noah saved the animals from the Great Flood, a rainbow appeared. As the flood had killed all other living beings, the rainbow came to symbolize God's promise that he would never again destroy all life. Medieval versions of the story of Noah's Ark merges the celestial and earthly bows, and further turns the rainbow around to its existing arch. The existing rainbow is a weapon God turned towards himse ...

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Rainbows in mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Ancient beliefs, Rainbows in mythology - Sumerian mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Nordic mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Greek mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Australian aboriginal mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Biblical rainbows, Rainbows in mythology - Other mythologies

Read more here: » Rainbows in mythology: Encyclopedia II - Rainbows in mythology - Biblical rainbows

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Rainbows in mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Ancient beliefs, Rainbows in mythology - Sumerian mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Nordic mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Greek mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Australian aboriginal mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Biblical rainbows, Rainbows in mythology - Other mythologies

Read more here: » Rainbows in mythology: Encyclopedia II - Rainbows in mythology - Australian aboriginal mythology

"In the Greek pantheon, the antiquity of Iris is as great as her importance is small." Daughter of 1st generation gods Electra and Thaumas, Iris dresses in rainbow colors. As messenger of the gods, she flies on golden wings. Iris appears in nine of the twenty-four books of Homer’s The Iliad, always speeding with the winds, delivering news. Consistent with the rest of Greek myth, Iris’s swiftly delivered messages were rarely of peace or good fortune. One job of Iris was to fill a golden jug with holy water for Zeus, who made misbeh ...

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Rainbows in mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Ancient beliefs, Rainbows in mythology - Sumerian mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Nordic mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Greek mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Australian aboriginal mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Biblical rainbows, Rainbows in mythology - Other mythologies

Read more here: » Rainbows in mythology: Encyclopedia II - Rainbows in mythology - Greek mythology

Whatever the culture or continent, our species' earliest rainbow is the rainbow of the imagination. Whether as bridge, messenger, archer’s bow, or serpent, the rainbow has been pressed into symbolic service for millennia. The myriad rainbow bridges and myths built by the world’s peoples clearly tell us more about human hopes and fears than they do about nature’s rainbow. In Constantino Brumidi’s oil on canvas Apotheosis of George Washington, 1866 "America’s founding father wears a [calm] expression… as he is propelled heav ...

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Rainbows in mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Ancient beliefs, Rainbows in mythology - Sumerian mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Nordic mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Greek mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Australian aboriginal mythology, Rainbows in mythology - Biblical rainbows, Rainbows in mythology - Other mythologies

Read more here: » Rainbows in mythology: Encyclopedia II - Rainbows in mythology - Ancient beliefs

A rainbow is an optical and meteorological phenomenon that causes a nearly continuous spectrum of light to appear in the sky when the Sun shines onto falling rain. It is a multicoloured arc with red on the outside and violet on the inside. The full sequence of colours is most commonly cited as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet, though it is important to note that this is an inconsistent list; all primary and secondary colours are present in some form, but only one tertiary colour. It is commonly thought that indigo ...

Including:

Rainbow - Rainbows in religion and mythology Rainbow - Rainbows in literature Rainbow - Remembering the sequence of colours

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The Rainbow Serpent (also known as the Rainbow Snake) is a major mythological being for Aboriginal people across Australia, although the creation stories associated with it are best known from northern Australia. The Rainbow Serpent is seen as the inhabitant of permanent waterholes and is in control of life's most precious resource, water. It is the underlying Aboriginal mythology for the famous Outback "bunyip". It is the sometimes unpredictable Rainbow Serpent, who vies with the ever-reliable Sun, that replenishes the stores of water, forming gullies and deep channels as he slithered across the landscape, ...

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Iris has three main meanings, unrelated except for their derivation from the Greek word for rainbow: Iris (mythology), a messenger of the gods in Greek mythology, identified with the rainbow Iris (anatomy), the sphincter around the pupil of the eye, named for the colors in human and animal eyes Iris (plant), a colorful genus of flowering plants, named for the rainbow Terms derived from the three main meanings: 7 Iris, an asteroid named for the mythological figure ...

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In Norse Mythology, Bifröst is the bridge leading from the realm of the mortals Midgard to the realm of the gods Asgard, which the gods travel daily to hold their councils under the shade of the tree Yggdrasill. The bridge itself is the rainbow and its guardian is the god Heimdallr. The red color was the flaming fire, which served as a defense against the giants. The bridge is destroyed at the end of t ...

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Bifröst - The Prose Edda

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Australian folklore refers to the folklore and urban legends of Australia. Australian folklore - Australian Aboriginal mythology. Bunyip - According to legend, they are said to lurk in swamps, billabongs, creeks, riverbeds, and waterholes. Rainbow serpent - It is the sometimes unpredictable Rainbow Serpent, who vies with the ever-reliable Sun, that replenishes the stores of water, forming gullies and deep channels as he slithered across the landscape, allowing for the collection ...

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Australian folklore - Australian Aboriginal mythology Australian folklore - Animals/creatures Australian folklore - People Australian folklore - Places Australian folklore - Socio-political events Australian folklore - Sport Australian folklore - Other

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Bambuti mythology is the mythology of the African Bambuti Pygmies (also: Mbuti Pygmies, Ba Mbuti). The most important god of the Bambuti pantheon is Khonvoum (also Khonuum, Kmvoum, Chorum), a god of the hunt who wields a bow made from two snakes that together appear to humans as a rainbow. After sunset every day, Khonvoum gathers fragments of the stars and throws them into the sun to revitalize it for the next day. He occasionally contacts mortals through Gor (a thunder god who is also an elephant) or a chameleon (similar to th ...

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7 Iris (eye'-ris) is one of the largest main belt asteroids. 7 Iris - Discovery and name. It was the seventh asteroid discovered, on August 13, 1847 by J. R. Hind from London, UK. It was Hinds' first asteroid discovery. Iris was named after the rainbow goddess Iris of Greek mythology, sister of the Harpies and messenger of the gods, especially Hera. Her quality of attendant of Hera was particularly appropriate to the circumstances of discovery, as she was spotted following 3 Juno (Juno is the ...

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7 Iris - Discovery and name 7 Iris - Characteristics 7 Iris - Aspects

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In Polynesian mythology (specifically: New Zealand), Rongo ("sound") is the god of song, peace, flora (plants) and agriculture, particularly associated with the sweet potato. He is a son of Rangi and Papa and is associated with the rainbow under the name Kahukura. On Easter Island, he is a creator god (see the Rongorongo tablets). He lives in Avaiki, and may have built it beneath Mangaia in the Cook Islands. In Tahiti, Rongo is known as Ro'o (also Ro'o-i-Te-Hiripoi) and is considered a god of health, invoked by those who are ill. He also taught sham ...

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The Boreads, in Greek mythology, were Calais and Zetes. They were the sons of Boreas and Oreithyia, daughter of King Erechtheus of Athens. They were winged heroes. They were Argonauts and played a particularly vital role in the rescue of Phineas from the harpies. They succeeded in driving the monsters away but did not kill them, at a request from the goddess of the rainbow, Iris, who promised that Phineas would not be bothered by the harpies again. As thanks, Phineas told the Argonauts how to pass the Symplegades. ...

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In Australian Aboriginal mythology (specifically: Binbinga), Bobbi-bobbi was a giant snake that lived in the heavens, similar to the Rainbow Snake. He saw that humans needed more than water to survive, so he gave them wild game. But since the humans were ignorant as to how to catch this wild game, he sent one of his ribs to the men so they could use it as a boomerang and catch wild game. One day, the men decided to pay a visit to Bobbi-bobbi and give them their thanks. When the men used the boomerang to make a hole in the sky, Bobbi-b

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The Zuni are a Pueblo people located in the southwest of the United States. Awonawilona is the creator god. He made the sun and ocean, which was covered with green algae that hardened, split and became Awitelin Tsta and Apoyan Tachi. Apoyan Tachi and Awitelin Tsta are the sky father and earth mother and the parents of all life on Earth. Achiyalatopa is a monster with knives for feathers. Amitolane is a rainbow spirit. Yanauluha is a culture hero, who brought agriculture, medicine and all the customs of the Zuni people. Uhepono is a hairy giant that lived ...

Including:

Zuni mythology - Creation

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Five ships in the United States Navy have been named USS Iris for Iris, who in Greek mythology is the goddess of the rainbow. The first Iris was built in 1847 and commissioned later that year. She served during the Mexican-American War and was decommissioned in 1848. The second Iris was built in 1863, served in the American Civil War, and decommissioned in 1865. The third Iris was a monitor built as Shiloh in 1865, renamed Iris in 1869 and decommissioned in 1874.

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The indigenous peoples of Australia can be classified into hundreds of language groups and clans. For this reason it is incorrect to classify any attribute as universal to them as a whole. However, almost all the belief systems found seem to be what can be considered a polytheistic, animistic religion. The following are individual religious stories from a plethora of cultures across the continent. Where possible, the ...

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A traditional way of recalling each of the seven colours of the rainbow in sequence is by using the mnemonic "Richard Of York Gave Battle In Vain", where the first letter of each word corresponds to the first letter of each colour. The mnemonic alludes to the defeat of Richard III by Henry Tudor at the Battle of Bosworth Field. In York, an alternative version is taught that goes "Rowntrees Of York Gave Best In Value". Another, less obvious, thou ...

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Rainbow, Rainbow - Rainbows in religion and mythology, Rainbow - Rainbows in literature, Rainbow - Remembering the sequence of colours

Read more here: » Rainbow: Encyclopedia II - Rainbow - Remembering the sequence of colours

The rainbow has also been used in more contemporary settings, such as the song "Over the Rainbow" in the musical film The Wizard of Oz, and in selling Lucky Charms by alluding heavily to leprechaun mythology. One of the poems of William Wordsworth goes: My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began; So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old, See also:

Rainbow, Rainbow - Rainbows in religion and mythology, Rainbow - Rainbows in literature, Rainbow - Remembering the sequence of colours

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In Norse mythology, the earth is represented as a flat disc. This disk is situated in the branches of the world tree, or Yggdrasil. Asgard, where the gods lived, was located at the centre of the disc, and could only be reached by walking across the rainbow (the Bifröst bridge). The Giants lived in an abode called Jötunheimr (giant realm). A cold, dark underground abode called Niflheim was ruled by Hel, daughter of Loki. According to the Prose Edda this was the eventual dwelling-place of mos ...

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Norse mythology, Norse mythology - Overview, Norse mythology - Sources, Norse mythology - Cosmology, Norse mythology - Supernatural beings, Norse mythology - Völuspá: the origin and end of the world, Norse mythology - Kings and heroes, Norse mythology - Norse worship, Norse mythology - Centres of faith, Norse mythology - Priests, Norse mythology - Human sacrifice, Norse mythology - Interactions with Christianity, Norse mythology - Modern influences, Norse mythology - Bibliography

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