Rain Not A Pain at These Games

Rain was more than welcome; it was celebrated this week at the North American Indigenous Games in Denver. The area had been dry and virtually rain-free in June, but as Native Americans arrived in the city, precipitation followed as Deborah Frazier wrote in Wednesday's Rocky Mountain News. And bringing the rain, is as much competition as the games themselves, Frazier writes. Here's a snippet from the article:

"It's part of the relationship between Mother Earth and Father Sky," said Sara Stanley, who teaches art and culture at the Monument Valley High School on the Navajo Reservation in Arizona.

At an athletic event, there's always tribal competition that extended to who gets credit for the rain.
"We brought the rain from Saskatchewan," said Vernon Lewis, a broadcaster covering the games from a Cree radio station in west central Canada.

But no one grumped about the rain, not even athletes who had to hustle to finish competitions under darkening skies.

"It's always a blessing. It's a cleansing," said Lisa Wayne, a Navajo who managed the games' sports and venues.

You can read Frazier's article in its entirety at the Rocky Mountain News Web site.
The above photo is from Keith Smiley of the Rocky Mountain News.