Jump to content

Eclipses in mythology and culture

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Dan Leonard (talk | contribs) at 09:03, 7 April 2024 (→‎References: Removed erroneous “journal=“ in book citation). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Eclipses of the Sun and of the Moon have been described by nearly every culture. While eclipses hundreds of years into the future may now be predicted with high accuracy, traditional difficulty in predicting their occurrence and a lack of an astronomical explanation led to them being attributed to supernatural causes or regarded as bad omens.

Religious and cultural practices

Abrahamic religion

Judaism

In the Talmud, solar eclipses are described as ill omens[1] and several events in the Hebrew Bible are said to have occurred during eclipses.[2] However, Judaism at large has been accepting of the modern astronomical explanation of eclipses and today many rabbis consider eclipses to be reminders of divinity and a time for prayer and instrospection.[3]

Hindu mythology

Rahu swallows the Sun, referred to as Rahukalam
Main article: Grahana

Eclipses, known in Sanskrit as grahana (Sanskrit: ग्रहणं, romanized: Grahaṇam, lit. 'Eclipse') are regarded to be noteworthy phenomena in Hinduism, and legends involving their origin and purpose are featured in Hindu mythology. The celestial gods Rahu and Ketu swallow the sun and moon, respectively, and are thus responsible for solar and lunar eclipses.[4][5]

Hindus generally believe that a grahana is an ill-omen, and undertake certain activities before, during, or after its onset. Before a solar eclipse, fasting is sometimes practiced for up to six hours prior to the phenomenon. Food is often prepared only after the passing of the eclipse, and conventions regarding consuming meals at given hours in the context of the event are prescribed in the Kurma Purana.[6] During the first and the final phases of an eclipse, a practicing Hindu might ritually bathe to cleanse oneself, as well as offer prayers to one's ancestors. Pilgrimage sites situated adjacent to a river throng with devotees during the onset of a grahana in some regions.[7] Pregnant women are considered to be especially at risk to the effects of an eclipse, and are expected to adhere more strictly to religious bans during the phenomenon to prevent birth deformities in their children.[8] It is regarded to be an ill-omen to be born during an eclipse, and Brahmins are often called upon to ritually bless such an individual. On the other hand, a grahana is considered to be an auspicious time to practice chanting mantras that are believed to ward against evil.[9]

Native American traditions

The Indigenous peoples of the Americas have very diverse cultural practices and beliefs about eclipses.

Since the sixteenth century, Western scholars have been interested in "eclipse glyphs" recorded by the Maya civilization in the Dresden Codex, thought by historians to be predictions of solar and lunar eclipses.[10] As there is no evidence for Maya understanding of heliocentrism or celestial orbits, it is likely that such eclipse predictions were made entirely from observed periodicity.[11] However, some scholars argue that the glyphs in the Mayan codices refer to skies darkened from heavy rainfall, and not to eclipses.[12]

In Eduard Seler's analysis of the Codex Vaticanus B, he argues that in Aztec mythology solar eclipses occurred when the jaguar god Tepēyōllōtl would consume the sun and threaten to swallow it completely.[13] While the Aztec society did not survive European colonization of the Americas, a passage from the Florentine Codex by friar and ethnographer Bernardino de Sahagún gives an account of a solar eclipse:

Then there were a tumult and disorder. All were disquieted, unnerved, frightened. There was weeping. The common folk raised a cry, lifting their voices, making a great din, calling out, shrieking. There was shouting everywhere. People of light complexion were slain [as sacrifices]; captives were killed. All offered their blood; they drew straws through the lobes of their ears, which had been pierced.

— de Sahagún 1950, p. 2

Navajo people consider the time during an eclipse to be a sacred moment of renewal, and refrain from all activities including eating and drinking.[14] During an eclipse, the Sun or Moon is believed to be dying and reborn. Members of the nation should be silent in prayer and it is considered forbidden to look anywhere except down on the ground. Before modern eclipse prediction methods, Navajo people believed they could predict oncoming eclipses through their traditional songs.[15] During the solar eclipse of October 14, 2023, the offices of the Navajo Nation, including its parks, were closed out of reverence for the eclipse.[16]

In contrast, the Hopi people, whose reservation today is an enclave of the Navajo Nation, consider eclipses to be a time of ceremony.[17][18]

New religious movements

Some New Age and Wicca practitioners view solar and lunar eclipses as important spiritual events.[19] As decentralized religious practices, there are no set prescribed rituals and adherents are free to explore their own exercises, which can include crystal charging,[20] imbuing water with energy,[21] and tarot card reading.[22] For some Wicca practitioners, the spiritual nature of the solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 was an opportunity for political activism, casting spells against the administration of Donald Trump.[23]

Norse mythology

The replicas of the Golden Horns of Gallehus exhibited at the National Museum of Denmark

In Norse mythology, it is believed that there is a wolf by the name of Fenrir that is in constant pursuit of the Sun, his consumption of the Sun would be the trigger of Ragnarök.[24] Historians consider it likely that the Golden Horns of Gallehus, with their eschatological iconography, were made in response a lunar eclipse of November 4, 412 and a solar eclipse of April 16, 413.[25]

Other Norse tribes believe that there are two wolves by the names of Sköll and Hati that are in pursuit of the Sun and the Moon, known by the names of Sol and Mani, and these tribes believe that an eclipse occurs when one of the wolves successfully eats either the Sun or the Moon.[26][better source needed]

Modern practices

Eclipse chasing

Main article: Eclipse chasing

A dedicated group of eclipse chasers have pursued the observation of solar eclipses when they occur around Earth.[27] A person who chases eclipses is known as an umbraphile, meaning shadow lover.[28] Umbraphiles travel for eclipses and use various tools to help view the sun including solar viewing glasses, also known as eclipse glasses, as well as telescopes.[29]

Notes

  1. ^ Talmud, b. Sukkah 29a:8
  2. ^ Rogovoy 2024: "For those interested in deeper study, events in the books of Joshua, Amos, and Jonah are often explained as having been accompanied by solar eclipses, and rabbinical scholars have even drawn upon science to date these eclipses with some specificity to the times when these events are thought to have taken place"
  3. ^ Bharath, Crary & Fam 2024: "Judaism has longstanding interconnections with astronomy"
  4. ^ Sastri 1903, p. 31: "With the generality of the Hindus the eclipse is the swallowing of the sun and the moon for a time by a demon called Rahu"
  5. ^ Chandrasekharam 2007, p. 30: "In Hindu mythology Rahu and Ketu are regarded as celestial bodies that swallow the Moon and the Sun thus causing lunar and solar eclipses respectively"
  6. ^ Kurma Purana, II.19.15: "One should not take food immediately before the Solar eclipse. If there is a lunar eclipse, he should not take food in that evening. In the course of the duration of the eclipse also, one should not take food. After the liberation (i.e. close of the eclipse), he should (first) take bath and take food."
  7. ^ Lall 2004, p. 104: "It is held that everyone is unclean during an eclipse, and should bathe and wash away that uncleanliness"
  8. ^ Simoons 1998, p. 171: "Pregnant women are in special danger from eclipses, because eclipses may bring on deformities in the children they bear"
  9. ^ Sastri 1903, p. 33: "The eclipse time is considered a most auspicious time for mastering the incantations for exorcising the evil effects of serpent bite, or scorpion-sting, and of devils, and many specialists in these directions would be seen standing in water and muttering these incantations"
  10. ^ Knowlton 2003, p. 293: "Westerners have been interested in Mesoamerican interpretations of eclipses since the sixteenth century A.D."
  11. ^ Aveni 1984, p. 26: "Interestingly enough, the Maya mapped out the entire eclipse program for the future with neither knowledge of nor interest in the concept of the nodes of the lunar orbit or the 19-year nodal regression period that has been given so much attention in megalithic astronomy of the Old World"
  12. ^ Love 2017.
  13. ^ Seler 1902–1903, p. 144: "For the Mexicans the jaguar was the animal that devours the sun, at the time when the sun was devoured, that is, when a solar eclipse; occurred. Hence for the Mexicans he denoted darkness, and his image, the god Tepeyollotli, is a god of caves, of the dark interior of the mountains"
  14. ^ Johannesen 2024.
  15. ^ Zotigh 2024.
  16. ^ Joe 2023.
  17. ^ Johannesen 2024: "The Hopi in Arizona believe an eclipse is a time to pray and for ceremony, such as presenting traditional sacred names"
  18. ^ Zotigh 2024: "During the last eclipse, our nieces and nephews were given their sacred Hopi names"
  19. ^ Yellin 2024: "To adherents of nontraditional spiritual movements like Wicca — which has grown in popularity as more Americans leave organized religion — it's an opportunity to tap into energies that flow throughout the natural and spiritual world"
  20. ^ Jackson 2024: "There is no need for protective stones during the solar eclipse, but that it’s a good time to charge your crystals as well"
  21. ^ Silva 2017: "My mom says there a chance an eclipse can grant powers, wisdom, and positive energy. The purpose of eclipse water is to bottle up all that energy and be able to use it for months after the event has passed."
  22. ^ Stephens 2024: "For Gonzalez, tarot is a way to navigate the individual experience of this cosmic event."
  23. ^ Burton 2017: "Activists like the members of the #MagicResistance, who use carefully structured, symbolically loaded rituals to 'bind' Donald Trump (often represented by whimsical items like a Cheeto or a carrot), see in the solar eclipse an opportunity to direct their spiritual energy toward an administration they see as the embodiment of evil"
  24. ^ Lindow 2002.
  25. ^ Hartner 1969.
  26. ^ Morrison & Goldsworthy 2017.
  27. ^ Russo 2012.
  28. ^ Kelly 2017.
  29. ^ Wright 2017.

References

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eclipse.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Eclipses_in_mythology_and_culture&oldid=1217690850"