Dodola (also spelled Dodole, Dudola, Dudula, Diva-Dodola etc.), Perperuna (also spelled Peperuda, Preperuda, Preperuša, Prporuša, Papaluga, Peperuna etc.), riti i ndjelljes/thirrjes së shiut ("Rain-Invoking/Calling Ritual" or "Rite of Invoking/Calling the Rain") or simply thirrja e shiut ("Call of the Rain"), riti me dordolecin ("Dordoleci Ritual"), riti i dodolisë ("Dodoli Ritual") are rainmaking pagan customs widespread among different peoples in Southeast Europe until the 20th century, found in Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Romania, and Serbia. It is still practiced in remote Albanian ethnographic regions, but only in rare events, when the summer is dry and without atmospheric precipitation.[1]
The ceremonial ritual is an analogical-imitative magic rite that consists of singing and dancing done by young boys and girls in processions following a main performer who is dressed with fresh branches, leaves and herbs, with the purpose of invoking rain, usually practiced in times of droughts, especially in the summer season, when drought endangers crops and pastures, even human life itself.[2]
- ^ Qafleshi 2011, pp. 51–52; Ministria 2014, p. 66.
- ^ Qafleshi 2011, pp. 51–52; Halimi, Halimi-Statovci & Xhemaj 2011, pp. 2–6, 32–43