When we hear the thunder, we head for cover. As noted in a previous Advocate Weather News, French peasants would carry “thunderstones,” or pierres de tonnerre, to ward off lightning. When they heard thunder, they would recite the verse: “Pierre, pierre, garde moi de la tonnerre,” which means. “Stone, stone, protect me from the thunder.” Many believed the pieces of rock were arrowheads of spent lightning bolts. After the storms, people would head to the fields, sifting through the dirt for these objects. The artifacts they found were probably from the Stone Age. The tradition continued with German soldiers carrying thunderstones or “donnerkeile” to battle, thinking they would ward off bullets. Fastcast: Staying sizzling.
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