Sunshower

Names

A sunshower is a weather event known by many names around the world, though the term itself is rarely found in dictionaries despite being used in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. A common thread runs through the folklore associated with this phenomenon: it often involves clever animals or tricksters like witches or the devil getting married, though local variations abound. In northern Mexico, people say a doe is giving birth, while in southern Mexico, the phrase is that two elders are getting married. Argentina has its own unique expression, referring to the monkey at the wedding of Mirtha Legrand, alongside the more common saying that a hag is getting married. Across the Southern United States, the devil is said to be beating his wife, with a Tennessee twist claiming the devil is kissing his wife instead. Ketchikan, Alaska, one of the rainiest places on the planet, has a local meter that measures what they call liquid sunshine, making that term a colloquialism for the Alaskan Panhandle. In Brazil, it is known as a widow’s marriage. In Bihar, children sing about a jackals’ wedding, while in the Garo language, it is called a fox’s or jackal’s marriage. Japan has many regions—including Kantō, Chūbu, Kansai, Chūgoku, Shikoku, and Kyushu—where the event is called the fox’s wedding. Korea refers to it as either the day of the fox’s marriage or the day of the tiger’s marriage. In Maharashtra, the Marathi term means marriage of a fox, and in Malayalam, it is also the fox’s wedding. Odia speakers likewise call it the fox’s wedding, and in some Pahari languages of Himachal Pradesh, the phrase translates to female foxes’ wedding. The Philippines attributes the sunshower to the tikbalang getting married. In Sri Lanka, the name means the foxes’ or jackals’ wedding house. Vietnam has a term, Mưa Bóng Mây, associated with the author Tô Đông Hải. Finally, in Belgium, Flanders, and the Netherlands, the traditional belief is that of the devil’s fair.