The beautiful ballad, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, is one of the most famous and best-loved songs of all time. It was composed by American songwriters Harold Arlen and Edgar "Yip" Harburg for the 1939 fantasy musical, The Wizard of Oz.
No-one could forget the delicate, wistful vocals of the film's star, Judy Garland - playing Kansas farm girl Dorothy Gale - as she sang the famous lyrics, "Somewhere over the rainbow, bluebirds fly," in a land where "dreams really do come true".
The Academy Award-winning, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer film was based on author Lyman Frank Baum's famous 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Dorothy wakes up in the magical Land of Oz after a tornado strikes. She is swept up in a battle between the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the North.
She meets a host of fascinating characters along the way, including the Scarecrow, the Tin Man and the Cowardly Lion, as she begins her quest along the Yellow Brick Road to find her way home.
Popular folklore
The rainbow in the song in Wizard of Oz followed the popular mythical folklore in which rainbows have a much sought-after prize at their end. According to Irish mythology, there's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, buried by leprechauns, but it remains elusive because you can only see rainbows at a distance.
In general terms, the treasure at the end of the rainbow is something that you desperately want but seldom find. It always remains just out of reach but is something everyone hopes to find one day. It makes us strive for better things.
The song became a platinum-selling hit for Hawaiian artist Israel Kamakawiwoʻole after he recorded it shortly before his death in 1997. It was certified platinum for having one million sales, including downloads, in the United States. It has clocked up 23 million YouTube views.
What causes a rainbow?
The appearance of a rainbow is far less magical than legend would have us believe. A rainbow is simply a meteorological phenomenon that appears as a result of certain weather conditions. It is caused by the reflection and dispersion of light through water droplets - hence rainbows often appear when it's raining and sunny at the same time.
The weather conditions result in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky, in the shape of a circular, multicoloured arc. The rainbow isn't a specific distance from the observer. It is simply an optical illusion, caused by the water droplets when seen from a certain angle in relation to a light source such as the sun.
Rainbow colours
The colours of the rainbow are red, yellow, orange, blue, green, indigo and violet, although it can be difficult to spot them all, especially if it's visible for only a short time. In the children's musical nursery rhyme, I Can Sing a Rainbow, it is given different colours, including pink.
The myths surrounding rainbows go back hundreds of years. In Roman and Greek mythology, the goddess of the rainbow, Iris, was a messenger of the gods. In Indonesia, it was said to be a bridge for boats carrying people's souls.
Christian explanation
Christian tradition suggests the rainbow represents the throne of Christ. It is mentioned in the Bible: "I have set my bow in the clouds, and it shall serve as a sign of the covenant between Me and the earth," in Genesis 9:13, when Noah has saved every species of animal from a devastating flood by building an ark and keeping them safe until the waters subside.
The rainbow was believed to be the symbol of the first covenant which God entered into. It was said to symbolise the statement that he would never again send a flood from the heavens to destroy the population of the earth.
In the 19th century, Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch suggested a deeper symbolism for the rainbow. He pointed out that although we all see seven different colours in the arc, they are an optical illusion, caused by refracted light. The only real colour is the white of the cloud.
Hirsch said the phenomenon was like a metaphor for the human race. Although people appear to be many different colours on the outside, underneath we're all the same.
Positive symbol
Whatever your beliefs, the rainbow is a positive symbol all over the world, encouraging us to follow our heart's desire and our ambitions as we strive to get to the end of the rainbow - a symbol of the fulfilment of our dreams.
If you've ever been out walking in the countryside on a sunny summer's day and experienced a shower, causing a rainbow to appear, you'll appreciate why people have attached such great importance to this beautiful, natural phenomenon over the years.
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