Illustrated Astronomy/Eclipses from different world views
VI
ECLIPSES FROM
DIFFERENT WORLD
VIEWS
From Earth, we have a privileged view of the Moon.
For ages, in the sky, we only contemplated clouds, auroras, the Moon, the Sun, and six planets: Earth, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn. We also saw the “fixed” stars, once in a while the appearance of shooting stars, comets, and “new” stars or novas, and also supernovae that after a long sudden glow, vanished forever. Almost every change occurring in the sky was perceived as problematics or bad omens, especially in the case of wonders involving the Moon and the Sun, mainly the eclipses.
There are stories and myths about eclipses in almost every culture and in the five continents. Through these narratives, we can notice both cultural and social differences. However, before questioning such beliefs, let’s remember what the Sun and the Moon represent. The Sun gives us its energy and heat and, therefore, is essential in every aspect of life. For thousands of years, its position regarding the stars was observed to seed and harvest. The Moon, on the other hand, illuminates at night, and it is appreciated on its brighter stages in scorching places because it helps to carry out farming and livestock activities at night, avoiding the heat during the day. With this in mind, many nations reverenced these celestial objects, even as the most important among gods in some cultures. Thanks to the observation of repeated phenomena, they tried to give answers based on their experiences or knowledge. Today, we do something similar since we try to explain observed phenomena through physics laws and math.
ASIA
In ancient Babylon (Iraq today), astrologists[1] achieved an extensive astronomical knowledge and a predictive ability about eclipses. For them, these events came along with misfortune, in particular, the death of the king or his family. In the aim to prevent the Monarch from dying because of this phenomenon, he and his heirs were hidden. In his substitution, other people who would receive the royal treatments took his place, but, in return, they had to sacrifice their lives after the eclipse in order to avoid the destiny of the Monarch and his family. Nowadays, it would not be a work that so many people were willing to do.
In Hinduism, we find two types of demigods, suras and asuras. It is said that in the beginning, suras used to rule the Universe, but they were cursed after Indra (king of the skies) insulted Durvasa, the great sage. This situation caused asuras to take control over the battle “between the good and the evil.” Then, in the attempt to recover their power, suras consulted the god Vishnu, who recommended to obtain the elixir of immortality located in the bottom of the ocean of milk. However, they had to join forces with asuras to get it. They agreed, tempted by the lust of immortality, even though both of them planned to use it for their own benefits. They had to fight against the snake’s king to get the desired nectar, whom they bent together, and the elixir of immortality came along to the surface.
Asuras took the elixir first, and fled, then suras once more asked for help to Vishnu. As a response, the god took the shape of Mohini, a beautiful woman, and fooled the asuras to take the beverage, so then she can divide it. A bit tipsies, asuras gave up and didn’t peep a word while they were aligned in different lines and see Mohini pour the elixir into the mouth of the suras. One of the asuras, called Svarbhanu, realized and moved to the other cue to receive the immortality; the Sun and the Moon noticed about this and warned Mohini, but it was already too late, Mohini had already given him the beverage. Quickly, Vishnu grabbed his sword (chakra) and cut his head off before he had the chance to swallow the drink, but as the head had already had contact with the nectar of immortality, he lived without his body, and was known as Rahu, while his body is known as Ketu. It is believed that Rahu stayed living in the ascendant node of the Moon, and Ketu in the descendant.
That’s why when an eclipse occurs; it is said that Rahu eats or devours the Sun or the Moon, but since he doesn’t have a body, he comes out again. This action would be an act of revenge for advertising Vishnu of his intentions.
In Vietnam, it is believed that a frog or toad devour the Sun, whereas, in China, the eclipses’ explanation is related to a dragon who gobbles down the Sun. Interestingly, the word to eclipse in Chinese is Shih, which literally means, eat.
In ancient China, a tradition lasted two millenniums, which lay in throw fired arrows to chase away the Moon, afraid of the Sun would never shine again. In fact, in the XIX century, Chinese sailors were seen shooting cannons to the eclipse hoping for avoiding the dragon (Moon) eats the Sun.
EUROPE
In the Nordic tradition, eclipses are a result of a fight between two wolves in the sky, called Skoll and Hati, who are always chasing the Moon and the Sun.
When they are caught, the darkness comes, and the red color, seen over the Moon during a lunar eclipse, would be blood splatters that cover it because Skoll has already bitten him.
In Germany, female and male roles assigned to the Moon and the Sun are different, although the reason for this is not very clear. The myth reads that during the day, the lazy, cold Moon (male) ignore the hot Sun (female), except for the fleeting moment of passion during the eclipse of Sun. After a minor fight, the Sun comes back to shine.
AFRICA
It is believed that in some western regions in Africa, the Sun (male) and the Moon (female) have a romantic relationship, and during the eclipses, they turn off the lights to have more intimacy.
Furthermore, the inhabitants of the Batammariba region (Togo and Benin) believe that during eclipses, the Moon and the Sun are involved in a fight, and people urge both to stop fighting. Part of that consists of setting the example. That’s why during the eclipses, people make peace or different conflicts between families or other kinds of problems are solved, even those issues that could have been dragged along for years.
In ancient Egypt it was believed that pharaohs were direct descendants of the god Sun and, consequently, their representatives on Earth. During a solar eclipse, the pharaoh walked around the main temple of Osiris until the event ended. The idea behind this was that the Sun should have move continuously, and when it started to get dark, its human representative should have done whatever in its power to regulate the motions in the sky. This ritual is also present in Chinese culture, where the emperor or ruler also was a Sun descendant, walking outside the temple.
NORTH AND SOUTH AMERICA
Among the diverse stories, we find Incas, who used to think that a jaguar, who devoured the Moon and covered it in blood, caused eclipses. Once the process finished, the animal came back down to Earth to keep eating. To avoid this attack, Incas reunited together, they were very loud and punched the animals, mainly dogs, to make them howl, so the jaguar got scared to then leave them alone.
In a tribe from northern California, the U.S, called Hupa, they believed that the Moon had many wives and animals as pets, including snakes and mountain lions.
If the Moon didn’t bring enough food, its pets would attack and hurt the Moon, which explained its reddish color, typical of a lunar eclipse. Then, its wives arrived, who fixed the Moon. The eclipse ended with them cleaning its blood.
On the other hand, the Eskimos believed that during eclipses, the Sun and the Moon had a kind of disease, resulting in their blinking light. They protected and warmed themselves to not infect from the stars, and they also covered the valuable things to carefully not spread out the supposed illness.
In the case of the pre-Columbian cultures from the south of Latin America, Chile and Argentina today, we found the Mapuches. According to these people, the physical Sun and the spiritual self always go together; in fact, it plays a crucial role in prayers. Regarding the eclipses, they called them malonji ta Antü (they came to block the Sun), and see them as lousy omen since they consider this as the defeat of the Sun at hands of the darkness. Considering this, people who live eclipses offer prayers dedicated to the Sun through songs, asking if it can back to life to light up the world again and don’t leave them.
In general, myths and beliefs have something in common in different parts of the world: they cause fear due to the sudden change of the most visible celestial bodies, those which affects the most in our lives, but also there are very noticeable changes you can tell by the environment and the threating dangers.
Even today that we know the Moon is a great rock and the Sun a giant ball of plasma, some people decide not coming out of their houses and not watch the eclipse just for fear. Other urban myths state that eclipses are dangerous for pregnant women sitting outdoor during the eclipse, or it is even more dangerous to look at the Sun during the eclipse instead at any other time. Even when there are no reasons to justify these superstitions, they are the beliefs passed down from generation after generation.
- ↑ Unlike astronomy, which studies the behavior and functioning of the stars regarding provable physics theories and laws, astrology gives explanations of the motions and events based on the gods’ plans or supernatural forces.