Full circle rainbow

The Full Circle Rainbow

The features of the full circle rainbow

Primary trait: A rainbow with one full circle or more

Secondary trait: A rainbow with the majority of the colors

A full circle rainbow is shown in the picture below, it was taken from an airplane.

A full circle rainbow (na LunarCat | Picfair.com)

The strata that the full circular rainbow appears

In order to see this type of rainbow, the observer needs to be at a very high location. Therefore. since the observer is seeing the circular rainbow in itʻs entirety, it can appear in within all the strata. A partial circular rainbow is shown below.

A partial circular rainbow (na Dirkr | Dreamstime.com)

The times that the full circular rainbow appears

From the scientific perspective this rainbow is as a result of proper geometry between sun, observer, and rainbow.

The Signs/Omens of the full circular rainbow

The full circular rainbow is not often seen. Reference to it was found in only two traditional Hawaiian sources for this project. Both of these were signs of dwelling above the rainbow. The following is one example.

There is one story/legend in the Hawaiian language newspapers that contains the full circular rainbow. In this story/legend the circular rainbow appears at the time a magical horse was flying. According to this story/legend:

The horse flew here and there, and 2 feet above the roof of the house the height (he flew). He soared around the town, with the bird flocks that were circling above, inside the circular rainbow racetrack. There were shouts and cries and this magical thing just departed, and numerous were the debates between some people, and it was said by them of Debolo, and some people said, an angel from heaven...[2]

[1] EarthSky. 2018. How to see a full circle rainbow. August. https://earthsky.org/earth/can-you-ever-see-the-whole-circle-of-a-rainbow/.

[2] B.R. Kalama. (1873, 7 Iune). He Moolelo Kaao No Robiana Lo Ka Hiwahiwa o Ke Koa. Ka Nupepa Kuokoa, ʻaoʻao 1

There is no specific definition in the dictionaries for this type of rainbow, however, each and every arching rainbow is a circle. The observer needs to climb to a very high location as a way to see the circular rainbow.[1] According to the Hawaiian-English dictionaries, this is the definition o the arching rainbow:

Pukui/Elbert: 1. nvs., Arch, arc; bent, arched, curved; to arch, of a rainbow