Binaural Radio Rural #28 - Tramontana Series: Quiet Rain in the Mountain

Notas do episódio

Tramontana Series - Episode nº 28: Quiet rain in the mountain We continue to present a series of Binaural Radio Rural podcast that is part of the Creative Europe funded project, Tramontana Network, which consists in a cooperation between 11 mountain-based cultural organizations from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Romania, Poland and Albania that all work in the intersection between ethnographic research and contemporary artistic practices. Throughout the episodes of this podcast series we are creatively addressing rural-based subjects like agropastoralism, transhumance, water symbologies, social change and its impact on landscape and food production and consumption, the Ukrainian migration to rural areas in Europe and more. Rain has long been more than mere weather; in the earliest myths and cosmogonies, it represents a vital force shaping the world and the human experience. In ancient Greek mythology, rain was often seen as a gift from Zeus, the sky god whose thunderclouds brought life-giving water to the parched earth. This celestial rain was intertwined with divine will, a symbol of renewal and the sustaining power of nature that connected gods and mortals alike. Roman traditions, inheriting much from their Greek predecessors, also revered rain as a sacred element. The god Jupiter, akin to Zeus, controlled the skies and storms, wielding rain as both a blessing and a weapon. In Roman cosmogony, rain was crucial in nurturing crops and sustaining the bustling cities of the empire, a reminder of the delicate balance between civilization’s progress and the forces of nature. Christian cosmology introduced rain as a divine instrument of both mercy and judgment. Biblical narratives speak of rain in contexts like the Great Flood, where it served as a purifying force to cleanse the world of corruption. Rain became a symbol of God’s providence, washing over the land to bring growth and renewal, but also a reminder of humankind’s need for repentance and humility before the divine. The Celtic worldview embraced rain as an intimate part of the natural and spiritual landscape. In Irish and Scottish traditions, rain was woven into the rhythms of the land, often seen as a messenger or a blessing from the Otherworld. It sustained the lush green hills and ancient stone circles, linking the physical earth to ancestral spirits and the ever-turning cycles of life and death. Across these civilizations, rain emerges as a profound symbol—dancing between earth and sky, life and myth, the human and the divine. This podcast episode is a sort of homage to rain in rural contexts, intertwining recordings made in 2025 in several Portuguese locations, including poem readings, memories of rain in the village of Nodar, improvisations with rain in Vouzela and a sound walk to a stomp mill in the river Vouga near the the village of Paraduça, this being a water evidence that maybe is connected with rain that fell on distant European mountains