Whether you see an eclipse or not really depends on being in the right place at the right time when they occur. I can't remember a total solar eclipse in my lifetime in which I was in an area to view it.
I think the last total solar eclipse viewed from the New York City metro area was in 1925 and the next one won't be until 2079.
Unless I live to a very long age or if I move to another part of the world, I'll likely never see one.
Take a train to St Louis for the 2017 eclipse, it goes right across America.
I think people attached religious significance because they did not know what caused the events. The Earth was fixed and the sun and moon went around it, the stars were attached to “the firmament”. So when suddenly the sun is blotted out or the moon goes dark, after you run out of logical explanations (within that framework) religion has to be the answer.
The Central Americans and some of the South American ancient civilizations could predict eclipses and conjunctions, but it looks like these were tools used by the elites to keep the proletariat in line. I have seen no evidence that the Middle East or what’s now Europe could predict an eclipse until maybe the 1500’s (I’m guessing).