Ter Teru Bozu

Rainy season continues, sort of, but I think we are having less rain than normal. I remember when I was a kid that we used to make "Teru Teru Bozu" (literally: Sunny Sunny Monk) to bring good luck and make the next day a sunny day.
This custom came from China about 1,200 years ago. Originally the doll was of a woman made of red and green cloth and carrying a broom to wipe the clouds away and make a sunny day. Over time the doll changed to a "Teri Teri Hoshi" or "Tere Tere Bozu" (Sunny Sunny Monk/Minstrel) by the 19th century. In days of yore, people hung the doll under the eaves, and if the weather became sunny, they drew eyes/nose/mouth.
According to a folklore, monks with hair (usually they shaved off their hair to show obeisance to Buddha) and who were married were engaged in agriculture when they weren't conducting a weather ceremony was called the "Hairy Monk" (sounds like a dance!). The ceremony, "Hijiri" eventually made people monks could tell the weather, therefore it became natural to ask a monk to make the next day sunny.
There is a children's song about the Teru Teru Bozu, that has an interesting end. It goes something like this:
"Sunny Monk, Sunny Monk, please make tomorrow a sunny day, just like the sky in a dream. If it is sunny day, I'll give you a golden bell, if you make my wish come true, I'll give you a sweet drink -- but, if it's still cloudy and raining, I'll decapitate you."
... Nice song, huh?