The Day I Witnessed the Raining of Fish

I grew up in Honduras, a country full of tradition and mystery. This is especially true in small towns like Yoro where my grandparents were born. I can remember summer time was the best time of the year for me. I was on vacation from school and able to go visit my grandparents. Ever since I can remember, I heard stories of the rain of fish. Some people say that it happens every year between June and July. Others believed it only came when God blesses the town. There are also the ones that just do not believe in the occurrence of the rain of fish. I will have to admit, I was one of the skeptics of this event until the day I saw these fish with my own eyes.

The day started as any usual day in the small town of Yoro. This town was approximately five thousand people. The sun went up from behind the mountain named Yoro as the town. Everyone started the work day early on their corn, bean and banana fields. They needed to try to avoid the hot afternoon sun. The heat of the sun can reach near one hundred degrees. My grandfather was repairing a fence on his banana field that is roughly three miles southwest of the town. I was headstrong because this day I had been selected to be his assistant.

We started our work at seven in the morning. As we were finishing fixing the fence at around two in the afternoon, we saw the sky quickly being covered by a cloud so black that it frightened me. The wind became stronger gradually. We could hear lighting striking not too far from where we were. My grand father said, “Let’s hurry up and go home.” We did. Meanwhile as we were going home it started raining really hard. We did not think too much of it and kept riding our drenched horses. As the rain augmented, the horses started moving in a strange ...

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...ying to give it a scientific answer or a more logical reason for the dubious belief the native people narrate. For example, that a small tornado forms on the river due to the heat of the water and the cold of the storm and the wind carries the fish away from the river, or that these fish swim against the current that the strong rain produces and the fish swim onto the land in the overflowing water. There are also the ones that think there are underground tunnels that overflow when a big storm happens letting the fish out.

Whatever the cause of this apparent miracle is, it still motivates arguments and doubt in some people. Others listen or watch in awe. For me, this day made an astounding link among the familiar and strange. I hope to always see it as I did when I was eight years old and to remember it as a startling miracle and a blessing of our Lord God.