Pat Shingleton for July 6, 2009
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The drought has sent us into a mind-set that any shower or thundershower is welcome.
As noted in a previous Weather News column, French peasants carried “thunderstones,” or pierres de tonnerre, in their pockets to ward off lightning.
When they would hear the thunder, they would recite, “Pierre, Pierre, garde moi de la tonnerre,” which means “Stone, stone, protect me from the thunder.”
Many believed the oblong pieces of rock were the arrowheads of lightning bolts.
After thunderstorms, people would sift through the dirt for them.
The artifacts they found were probably from the Stone Age.
The tradition continued; German soldiers carried thunderstones or “donnerkeile” to battle, to ward off bullets.
Fastcast: Thunderstorms.
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