Eclipse was once considered a sign of evil

In the past, when there was not enough knowledge of astronomy, people were afraid every time the Sun disappeared.

On December 26, people in Asia and the Middle East witnessed an annular eclipse, also known as a "fire circle". This is the last solar eclipse of 2019, and in many Asian countries, images of children eager to look at the sky can be seen using tools to view the eclipse.

Things are not so simple in history. Although the Sun is only obscured for a few minutes at each solar eclipse, mankind has repeatedly recorded panic when the sunlight suddenly disappears.

Thousands of legends

The Vikings believe that the mythical wolves Skoll and Hati always chase the Sun and Moon, will occasionally nibble on the subject. The Mayans illustrated the solar eclipse by the image of a snake swallowing the sun, while the Incas believed that the lunar eclipse was the act of a leopard.

The eclipse made the ancient people panicked, scared when the light from the Sun suddenly disappeared.

Until 1979, according to the article of Annie Dillard, many people in Washington state were still afraid to scream when they saw the eclipse happening.

"After reading about the history of eclipses, I realized that no matter how modern human time or knowledge, human reactions to eclipses are still diverse. They may be surprised. can be scared, " says astronomer Steve Ruskin.

One of the most recorded eclipse events of modern times is in 1886 in Australia.

"The indigenous people at that time believed that the eclipse was due to a tribe living on the Moon, angry and sick, vented their anger on them," Mr. Ruskin said.

The reaction of the ancients to the eclipse

The Babylonians had such good knowledge of mathematics and astronomy that they calculated the time of eclipse. However, they still thought that this was a bad omen, so whenever an eclipse occurred, a commoner would sit on the throne to avoid risks to the king. After the eclipse, the people will be rewarded and then killed to ward off all the bad luck from the phenomenon.

A photo of the 1851 eclipse of Johann Berkowski.

In 1133, a solar eclipse coincided with the death of King Henry I of England. This coincidence caused chaos and a civil war. In the fifteenth century, when he arrived in America, Christopher Columbus took advantage of a solar eclipse to convince the indigenous people at that time he had the support of God.

The solar eclipse that took place in 585 BC in what is now Turkey creates another outcome. Medes and Lydians were fighting when a solar eclipse took place. The leaders of both sides thought that this was a sign of god for the two parties to make peace, and this solar eclipse led to 15 years of peace.

People gradually get accustomed to the eclipse

"After the scientific revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, people began to explain the movements of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun. That helped them lessen the fear of each solar eclipse that took place, at least in Europe, " said Ruskin.

Picture illustrating the eclipse of the year 1631. (Source: Library of Congress).

Scientific insights help us to calm down and accept eclipses as a natural phenomenon. In 1887, chemist Dmitry Mendeleev used a hot air balloon to fly more than 3 km high to see this phenomenon.

Perhaps few people know that this phenomenon also has strange effects on animals.

"The crow near me suddenly panicked, screamed and soared," mathematician John Couch Adams described a solar eclipse in the 19th century.

Until modern times, there are still many rumors about eclipses such as pregnant women should not see eclipse. An eclipse is a rare phenomenon after all. So perhaps scientific insights still cannot completely erase the instinct of fear of humans after thousands of years.

Learn about the solar eclipse and the eclipse