Rituals aimed at influencing weather, above all bringing rain in agricultural societies dependent on a reliable seasonal cycle, recur across an unusually wide range of cultures independently of one another, reflecting how directly weather bears on survival in most pre-industrial economies. The Hopi Snake Dance, performed as part of a longer ceremonial cycle, is among the best documented Native American rain ceremonies, involving the ritual handling of live snakes understood to carry prayers for rain to the underworld before being released to do so.
Christianity developed its own liturgical form addressing agricultural need directly, Rogation Days, days of prayer and formal procession, often blessing the fields themselves, held before Ascension Day in the Western liturgical calendar and historically associated with prayers for a good harvest and favorable weather, a practice with clear structural parallels to weather rituals in traditions with no historical connection to Christianity at all. Documented weather rituals span the full range of ritual technique, dance, procession, sacrifice, and the ritual manipulation of objects understood to sympathetically resemble the desired weather, such as water sprinkling intended to encourage rain by visual and physical analogy.