Most of the world has a thin veneer of civilization on top of stupid to the bone.
Well, maybe the religious in India view it that way.
Well, I was in Goldendale, Washington for the total eclipse on February 26, 1979. I figured that Portland would be clouded over, so I went a hundred miles east and over into Washington.
1979 Solar Eclipse - ABC News Coverage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gAacZoIJUN0
No weird things happened to me physically... LOL...
It was strange, though, seeing the dark shadow racing up and covering us up...
A simple fact of geometry!
Like the Cainanites that worshiped trees that they had carved into phallics.
I don’t think the world needs an eclipse to trigger violence and turmoil. It’s sort of like a rooster causing the sunrise. We already have violence and turmoil, and always have.
The Pomo tribe of Native Americans are from the northwestern US. The Pomo name for a solar eclipse was "sun got bit bear." They tell a story about a bear who goes out for a stroll along the Milky Way. Soon Bear met up with the Sun and the two began to argue about who would move out of the other's path. The argument turned into a fight, which was represented by an eclipse of the Sun. Eventually the Bear continued along his way, but soon met up with the Moon, the Sun's sister. Again, an argument ensue about who would move over and again the argument turned into a fight. Now there was an eclipse of the Moon. After the eclipse Bear continued on his way along the Milky Way and the cycle repeated.
The Ge' are among the Amazonian tribes of Brazil. They also believe that eclipses are a result of a fight between Sun and Moon. They say the eye of the Sun or Moon is pierced by a small boy who shoots them with an arrow. The wound bleeds symbolized by the Moon turning reddish and dimming. A shaman removes the arrow and the wound heals.
The Moon is a man who has twenty wives and a house full of pets consisting of mountain lions, bears and snakes. To feed his pets, the man goes out to hunt. After the hunt he carries all the game back to his house for his pets, but they are not satisfied with what he has brought them. In anger, the pets attack the man, who begins to bleed. This is represented by the Moon turning a reddish colour during a lunar eclipse. One of the Moon's wives is Frog and when she sees the predicament her husband is in, she rushes to help him. Frog beats away the pets. Then she and the other wives collect up the Moon's blood and he can then recover.
Skoll the wolf who shall scare the Moon
Till he flies to the Wood-of-Woe:
Hati the wolf, Hridvitnir's kin,
Who shall pursue the Sun.
Grimnismal, The Elder Edda
The Vikings tell a tale about two wolves who wish to eat the Sun and Moon. Skoll (repulsion) goes after the Sun and Hati, running ahead of the Sun, goes after the Moon. When either are caught, there is an eclipse. When this happens, the people on Earth rush to rescue the Sun or Moon by making as much noise as they can in hopes of scaring off the wolves.
The Serrano Indians of California believe an eclipse is the spirits of the dead trying to eat the Sun or Moon. So during an eclipse, the shamans and ceremonial assistants sing and dance to appease the dead spirits while everyone else shouts to try and scare the spirits away. Meanwhile, everyone avoids eating food with the idea that it would starve the spirits out.
The Moon was represented by a mirror in China. During an eclipse, people beating on mirrors is a very old tradition. It was believed that a dragon swallowed the Moon during an eclipse and beating the mirrors would cause the dragon to cough it up and return it to the sky.
http://starryskies.com/The_sky/events/lunar-2003/eclipse7.html
USA Eclipse Bonanza
As stated in the “When” section, solar eclpises occur in complex and unpredictable patterns — for practical purposes, at “random”. On average, though, any given spot on the Earth’s surface will see a total eclipse of the Sun once every 360 years or so. So seeing two total eclipses of the Sun at the same spot in just 7 years would be fairly remarkable — and seeing four total eclipses over a small region of the Earth in just 35 years would be incredible.
However, that’s exactly what’s going to happen in the middle of the United States in the next 50 years — four total eclipses of the Sun will cross a region just 600 miles across, within the space of 35 years. Two places in the USA will each see two total eclipses of the Sun separated by just 7 years. And as if that wasn’t enough, just 20 years later it happens again in Mexico, just over the border from Texas!
Here’s a map that shows the action in the south-east USA over the 21st century:
http://hermit.org/Eclipse/when_usa.html
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I would sure like to be in on this *bonanza*... :-)
Ping for later.