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	---> MORE Thai Legends: _________________________________ How the Insulted Rice-Plant Got Its Revenge The Legend of the Crow The Menacing Tiger How the Insulted Rice-Plant Got Its Revenge A Northern Thai Folk Tale The ‘Dead’ Man’s Betel Mom… we need more rain!!! How the Moon Got Its Face THE WEAVER AND THE COWHERD The Myth of Mae Posop, the Goddess of Grain The Legend(s) of Queen Chamadevi Mamia The Origin of Thunder and Lightning The Legend of Wang Bua Ban Waterfalls Tera Jan and the Tunnels of Wat Umong Why Chiang Mai is big but Lamphun small The Lord of all Lanna Ghosts Legends of The Evil Woman/Tigress THE WHITE CHEDI OF SACRIFICE Two good pals Keeping the Pret Happy THE WEAVER AND THE COWHERD A Northern Thai Folk Tale How cats and dogs became enemies Sri Thanonchai Tricks His King The Wonderful Mine of Laplae The Legend of Phra Pathom Chedi GRATITUDE OF THE LITTLE COW WHY MONKEYS AND CROCODILES ARE ENNEMIES

Mom… we need more rain!!!

Mom in this context doesn't really mean mommy or mother. Mom is one of the legendary creatures who lives in the Himmapan Forest.

According to Hindu belief, (the) Mom is the vehicle of the Rain Angel, while Lanna tradition knows it as 'The Angel of the West' - (no, not you, sweetie. This is mythology). This Mom is a strange hybrid, half cat, half lion, though some Lanna artisans present it as a big lizard. As a result, it's often a decorative feature of the entrance to the vihara (chapel) of Buddhist temples. The story behind them is that they are a great deal smarter than human beings (which may not be saying much - just look at us!) but because they cling to what they have and know, they are unable to achieve enlightenment and have forfeited Nirvana. We are supposed to take it as warning to avoid trishna/tanha - 'clinging' - if we want to move beyond our limitations.

Ceremonially, just as for other aquatic creatures - frogs etc - the Mom is invoked for rain. During the hot dry period, before planting, farmers would put a carved representation of the Mom in a wicker basket and take it in procession through the village and to the temple...rain sure to follow - sometimes. For some reason this rain-making business is also attributed to cats. One of the Chiang Mai historians, the late Ajarn Kraisi Nimmanahaeminda, has written of the custom of dowsing a cat during the Songkran period, which citizens believed to be a sure-fire method of getting the downpour they needed. And even nowadays, during the Songkran ceremonies, an important Buddha image is carried through town and respectfully lustrated for the same reason.

To come back to the Mom, some folklorists believe it's akin to the Chinese kilen - a sort of dog/lion hybrid, but the fact is that accurate memory of origins and function have faded, so that to most of us it's become just a decorative feature. One of the places you can see it is in the back of Wat Phra That Doi Suthep, next to the sightseeing area.

What's that? You don't want to invoke the rain. You're going trekking? Well, OK, but remember the poor farmers. Just a little bit of rain, Mom, but not too much.