The two most powerful gifts from God, we cannot live with one or the other, we need both. Too much sun everything dries up and withers, too much rain everything drowns and dies. Enough sun and rain to nurture life and to make it grow. In Christianity the rainbow is the pardon, the reconciliation between God and humanity. It is the throne of the last judgment. In ancient Christian symbolism the rainbows principal colors are red, blue and green for fire, flood and earth. It is sometimes viewed as the Virgin Mary bringing heaven and earth in harmony.
The Old Testament tells of God showing Noah a rainbow after the flood had stopped. It was sign that God was putting his "Bow" down and would never destroy the Earth by flooding again.
In Kauai the Goddess of the rainbow is Anuenue. There is a story about a child named Ua, which means rain, who fell off a cliff. Anuenue used her rainbow to break the child's fall and save her life. The child grew up to marry Kulu-'i-ua, the son of the chief of a rival tribe. Their marriage created peace on the island of Kauai.
A Japanese myth tells of the first man Isanagi and the first woman Isanami who stood on the floating bridge of heaven while creating the island of Onogoro. They then walked down to earth on this rainbow bridge, called Niji. They watched the animals and learned how to make love. They watched the birds and learned to eat with chopsticks.
Some Buddhists believe the seven colors of the rainbow relate to the seven planets and the seven regions of the earth. They also say the rainbow is the highest state of samsara before the clear light of Nirvana or heaven. In Arabia the rainbow is a tapestry draped by the hands of the south wind. It is also called the cloud's bow or Allah's bow. In Islam the rainbow is made up of four colors red, yellow, green and blue related to the four elements.
The rainbow is a bridge between the real and imaginary. It is looked at as a magic bridge on one hand, but on the other hand, people say a project doomed to fail is one built on a rainbow. A person who chases rainbows is someone who never accomplishes anything. I wonder what people think about us, rainbow makers.
People all over the world have different beliefs and different ways of looking at and understanding the same thing. We can be sure when a rainbow appears everyone is struck by its magic and its beauty. There is no doubt of that. What is the real meaning of the rainbow? Go look at one and you will know. Without words, without pictures, with a feeling inside you. Yes, there are things we just know and those are the important things in our life. The things that do not need words.
