Hopi people play an active role in bringing rain. Both as a community and as individuals, the people are responsible for attracting water, thereby turning the cycle of agriculture. When everyone comes together during the ceremonies and everything is done in the correct way, it rains. Otherwise, there is no rain.

Katsinas and the dolls that represent them, or tihus, wear the clouds and the rain. On their heads are stacks of clouds. Embroidered rain falls from their colorful dance kilts. On the rain sashes each knot is a cumulus cloud from which long fringe swishes like pouring rain. Some tihus illustrate water in special ways, holding a lightning bolt or wearing a water board on their backs. Bull roarers, with their whirring sound, attract the wind, which in turn brings the rain. Everywhere there is the prayer for rain.

Cloud and rain motifs are frequent designs on all Hopi arts. Rain clouds are regularly depicted as stylized terraced triangles, often with vertical stripes of rain showering from them. Painted and sculpted birds, butterflies, flower blossoms, and the sun all represent those things that appear after a rain shower and signal a fruitful growing season.