Did native americans ever used the practice of a "Rain Dance" in order to encourage rains? In popular culture there is a claim that Native American used a ritual dance in order to encourage rains. For example, in the _How I Met Your Mother_ episode "Come On" Ted does a rain dance in order to make rain fall (video clip). Tim Minchin uses rain dancing to explain logic fallacies. Is there any truth to it? Did Native Americans perform a dancing ritual whose purpose was to encourage more rains or to stop droughts?

Yes. See: <

> This rain dance was meant to bring rain for the entire year or for a specific season.

Other main points:

* Usually in late August
* Still performed today
* Special clothing made just for the rain dances
* More common in Native American tribes in the dry, Southwestern United States



Elsie Clews Parsons. _Some Aztec and Pueblo Parallels_. American Anthropologist , New Series, Vol. 35, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1933), pp. 611-631

> In an Aztec rain dance held every eight years [...]
>
> It was the Aztec belief that in this rain ceremony all the gods were dancing, and therefore the dancers were dressed in diverse fancy costume [...]

Gertrude P. Kurath. _Calling the Rain Gods_. The Journal of American Folklore , Vol. 73, No. 290 (Oct. - Dec., 1960), pp. 312-316

> In winter and spring [the rain gods] are also called in unmasked rain dances by men.

The dance is described:

> To lure the rain gods and clouds he beckons with a circling of the wrist