Fear and Awe: Solar Eclipses Through the Ages

Yitzhak Sapir

Let's travel to the past, to 1200 BCE, during the Sheng Dynasty in China.

It is now the early evening hours, and the full moon has just risen in the east, illuminating the black night with its radiance. At that time, before there were sidewalks, traffic lights, car headlights, and other lights in the city, the moonless night was completely dark, so dark that it was often dangerous to be outside at night. The darkness prevented man from seeing the ground he was walking on, and under the cover of darkness bandits and dangerous animals crept.

But a full moon dispelled the darkness, and the radiant glow of a full moon rising in the east was as welcome and dramatic as the rising sun.

To the ancient Chinese, this bright full moon was soothing and auspicious, but as we watch the moon rise in the sky on this particular day so many years ago, something strange and ominous happens: the moon darkens. Darkness eats the bright circle, and a growing shadow the color of dried blood spreads across it, threatening to cover the entire moon.

As you saw the moonlight extinguished by the ominous darkness, what would you think? At that time, before popular astronomy and modern science, were you scared? anxiety? Are you afraid that a great destruction will fall on the sky?

Loss of perspective

Nowadays, when it seems that every celestial event is recorded, analyzed and televised, it is easy to underestimate the fears that these events instilled in the ancient people.

But still, even though we understand what causes lunar eclipses, it's hard for most of us to even see them: the light pollution that surrounds our cities prevents us from seeing the night sky, and without news reports, we wouldn't even notice dramatic events such as lunar eclipses.

In ancient times, events such as lunar eclipses were seen by the general public, and had tremendous importance. More than once, a lunar eclipse has changed the course of history.

Changing history

When many believed that lunar eclipses were ominous signs, it was inevitable that an eclipse at an inopportune time would change the course of history, and so it did several times.

One of the earliest was recorded by Thucydides in his book on the Peloponnesian War, which happened in the fifth century BCE. At the outbreak of the second phase of the war, the Athenians attacked and besieged the city of Syracuse in Sicily.

After a two-year siege, the Athenians were ready to leave, but just before the signal to leave was given there was a lunar eclipse which the Athenians believed was an ominous sign of their departure. Their departure was delayed, and the delay allowed the Syracuses to break through the siege, create a diversion, and destroy the Athenian fleet and army.

Athens was shocked, its democracy collapsed, and the final loss of Athens caused the final decline of the gem of Greek culture. There were of course many reasons for the landslide that Athens suffered, but the lunar eclipse of 413 BCE and the resulting military loss were key factors in this turning point in history.

A sophisticated trick

Another turning point, closer to the present day, depended on a lunar eclipse that happened in Mezel Tov not only in 1504, which is a leap year in the foreign calendar, but on the leap day of that year, February 29.

That month, Christopher Columbus found himself on the small island of Jamaica, where he had been stranded for several months. Although the natives of the island brought food and supplies to Columbus while he waited for rescue, Columbus was so arrogant and lordly towards them that they stopped bringing him and his crew food and supplies.

Faced with starvation, Columbus managed to devise a sophisticated and desperate trick: when he saw in his almanac that a lunar eclipse was about to occur, he called the leaders of the local inhabitants and declared to them that if they did not provide food for his crew, God would punish them. As a sign of this, God will darken the moon.

Just in time, the lunar eclipse began. Columbus went into his cabin on the ship ignoring the excited pleas of the inhabitants to return the moon. After hiding for more than an hour, Columbus returned and announced that God was willing to remove the punishment if they agreed to continue bringing him supplies, food, and everything they needed. The leaders of the residents immediately agreed and within minutes the moon began to appear again from the shadow, while the residents were in awe of Columbus's power.

From then until he was overshadowed in June 1504, the inhabitants continued to bring him the necessary supplies.

To this day

Traditions and superstitions have a way of surviving, and so even today some of us have different beliefs about lunar eclipses.

In a large part of the world, it is customary to make a noise in order to scare away what attacks the moon or the sun. Even in the 19th century, the Chinese navy fired its cannons to deter the dragon they believed was eating the moon. And in many cultures today it is customary to scream, sing, shoot in the air, or bang pots, during the lunar eclipse. Most of it is done out of tradition and not out of faith, but it is done nonetheless.

Another superstition that continues to this day is that eclipses of the moon and sun imply a disease of the moon and the sun, and that protection is needed in order not to contract the disease. In Japan, the wells are covered to prevent them from being poisoned by the heavenly disease. There are Eskimos who turn over their pots and utensils to prevent contamination, and in India the residents lock themselves in their houses to avoid the "bad radiation" of the eclipse.

A link to history

Although today we tend not to attach much importance to such traditions and beliefs, they serve as a historical record of the many ways in which we have tried to explain these amazing events, the miraculous plays that happen in the sky on a regular basis.

When looking at an eclipse, imagine what such an event would have looked like to ancient people, and the awe it instilled in people.

But there is no need to allude to the ancient superstitions in order to appreciate the wonder of the eclipse. Knowing what we know today, the eclipse is even more amazing, as it represents the forces of nature that dwarf all human endeavors.

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