Veselka Is an Optical Phenomenon in the Atmosphere

Introduction
The rainbow remained a dilemma for most communities in the world. Different communities associated it with either positive or negative aspects.Many people of the globe did not clearly understand its formation, thus, they ended up associating this phenomena with the supernatural. Most communities believed that the rainbow has power either to bring negative or positive fortune on the lives of people. Surprisingly, there were those communities who believed that the rainbow was either a good sign or a bad one depending on the time it hampered. The concept of the seven colours, made communities to formulate special myths in order to, explain their origin and meaning. This essay explores the knowledge about the rainbow phenomena among different nationalities, the newton theory of light and colours and a view on different types of rainbow.
Objectives
1. To investigate the knowledge about the rainbow phenomenon among different nationalities.This is to show how various communities formulated beliefs about the rainbow.
2. To illustrate how the beliefs about the rainbow shaped the social and religious beliefs of various communities.
3. To investigate the scientific knowledge on the meaning and causes of the rainbow.

The Literature Review

The literature review of this project has collected by electronic sources such as Google Scholar, Google Books, Elsevier Ltd, websites and some other PDF textbooks. The key words, which I used for the search, were Rainbow in Myth, Legends and religions of Rainbow, people knowledge of Rainbow and Colors and spectrums.
The human beliefs about the rainbow:

Rainbow phenomenon has been a substantial topic in generations for centuries. This phenomenon took a place in myths in several cultures worldwide. According to Anderson(2001) the Aboriginal Australians’ people believe that the rainbow snake is a god who makes the rain coming down and creates the rainbow in the sky. In the fact, Australians’ aboriginal were afraid from these snakes and worshiped them due to their own believe. As (Mallen,2005,p.6 cited in Sullivan, S. and Low, C., 2014, p.224) noted that the characteristics of real puff adders, include their rainbow-like multicolored skin, their tendency to be very noticeable just in advance of rainfall, and their ability to swim, would have cemented their invocation in rock art that might represent rain making activity.

In India, likewise, the legend story about the king of gods called Indras that had the ability to control thunder, wind and storm and won the battle against the demons. As (Brockington, 2014) said that ‘warriors’ bows are also compared occasionally to Indra’s bow in a way that suggests that it still regarded as a real bow rather than as the rainbow’. However, in Hindu culture belief that the god Indra stretched a bow and throw it into the sky to celebrate his victory,and then from this it was created a wonderful seven colors.

Another nation is aboriginal Malay people called the Senoi. They had this belief that walking beside or even go near the rainbow may cause a fatal fever, and similar belief in Java Sea in Australia as well (Lee & Fraser, 2001). According to (Andrews, 2000) said that over centuries, in many nations use the rainbow as weather forecast to give their prediction if the rain will fall heavily or not. Moreover, the rainbow that appears in the night has a good sign rather than the one that which appears on the morning.

In addition, as mentioned in the scientific geographic website called National Geography Education, which is regarding to television channel, was outline the history of rainbows among different countries. This website statement about Norse mythology that they called the rainbow by Bifrost, which is the name of the rainbow, connected the earth with Asgard and the god live on the top of it.

On the other hand, some nations are often described the rainbow as a bridge between the human and supernatural being. In Japan, for instance, people belief that rainbow was a bridge which the ancestors made their move back and forth between earth and sky.

Rainbows, however, has positive and negative myths symbols in many nations. For example, the positive symbol in the Epic of Gilgamesh and the Bible, the goddess, Ishtar and Hebrew had their promises to never send a flood and destroy the planet earth. In stark contrast, Burma has the negative symbol of the rainbow. It considered as a demon who threaten the children. The similar belief was in the tribe of the Amazon that the diseases connected with the rainbow.

The Irish myth of the rainbow was by far the most famous legend throughout these centuries. They said that there is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow and a magical creature protect it(Dunn & Evers, 1989, 1993).

Recently, some people still believe in these legends and myths because they have superficial information about the creation of the rainbow and the physical phenomenon that explain it. Further and even more importantly, the schools education that has a limitation to illustrate the information that can fit the students’ mentality.
Influence of rainbow knowledge on the socialreligious beliefs of communities
The rainbow beliefs made some communities to formulate various attributes on their religious beliefs.The rainbow was a symbol of either good or bad in addition tobeing given a religious meaning (Lee & Fraser, 2001).Many communities were able to formulate their religious beliefs based on the rainbow.For instance, in the in the Hebrew view, god sends the rainbow as a sign of his covenant with Noah. This shows that people were able to give a rainbow a religious explanation and associate it with their dairy religious experiences in their religious beliefs.
Additionally, the rainbow made the basic mythological aspect of religion. Through its beauty, and mystery of the seven colours many religious myths emerged in communities to give it a religious explanation. For example, in the Navajo tradition, the rainbow is associated with holy spirits.People were able to use this aspect to explain the aspect of spirits in their socio-religious beliefs (Lee & Fraser, 2001)
Finally, the aspect of the rainbow was able to assist some communities to answer the question of life.For example, in the Australian aboriginal mythology, the rainbow snake is considered as the creator.In his dreaming he created the world- people, animals and other eternal beings. The aspect of the rainbow truly changed the religious aspect of many communities and was included in the socio-religious beliefs of these communities.
The scientific knowledge on the rainbow

The concept of the rainbow and colour was settled by Isaac Newton (1642-1746) in his theory of light and colour. Newton was able to demonstrate that colour comes from light an aspect that had troubled many scientists and philosophers before him. At his time there was a popular thought that colour was a mixture of light and darkness (Thompson199, p. 87). However, Isaac Newton was able to carry out experiments to show that colour comes from light. At first, he solved the dilemma of the rainbow. He was the first scientist to understand the dilemma of the rainbow and how its colours are formed. He refracted white light with a prism and solved the rainbow to its component colours (Bleicher 2012, p. 4).  Through the prism experiment, Newton demonstrated that the rainbow is formed when sunlight enter water drops and reflecting off their inside surfaces resulting into a rainbow. Newton also set up an experiment to show that light was responsible for colour. In his experiment, he set a prism in his window and projected a spectrum. The spectrum was set 22 feet onto the far wall. He observed that a ray of light is divided into its component colours. He was therefore able to arrive at the conclusion that light is made up of colours. Furthermore, Newton came up with the idea of primary colours (Bleicher,2012, p. 4).  He realized that when the green, blue and red regions of his rainbow were recombined, they were able to regenerate the white colour. He called these primary colours. On the other hand, if two primary colours were combined, then secondly colours are formed. Indeed, Isaac Newton was able to solve the mystery of colour and that of the rainbow. His greatwork has been used by artists and painters in their dairy activities of colour mixing.
Conclusion
In summary, the rainbow remained a mystery to many communities as different communities either associated this issue with good lack or bad. The rainbow was also associated with the supernatural both in the exodus flood story and that in Gilgamesh. As others believed that the rainbow was a god who makes rain. However, Isaac Newton was able to solve the mystery of the rainbow. He showed that light is made up of colours and when the light from the sun enters water drops and reflecting off their inside surfaces forming the rainbow. He was able to demonstrate his example through the use of the prism. Additionally, the rainbow may be classified intodifferent types, depending on the colours present and the strength of Alexander’s band

References
PLEW, D. L. (2008). The rainbow troll. Bloomington, IN, AuthorHouse.
KWAN, K.-M. (2011). The rainbow of experiences, critical trust, and God: a defense of holistic empiricism. New York, Continuum.
BLEICHER, S. (2012). Contemporary color: theory & use. Clifton Park, NY, Delmar Cengage Learning.
THOMPSON, W. I. (1991). Gaia 2: emergence : the new science of becoming. Hudson, NY, Lindisfarne Press.
LEE, R. L., & FRASER, A. B. (2001). The rainbow bridge: rainbows in art, myth, and science. University Park, Pa, Pennsylvania State Univ. Press.