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Are you ready for the solar eclipse?
Published on Wed, Mar 29, 2006 at 09:41, Updated on Wed, Mar 29, 2006 at 13:34 in Sci-Tech section
Tags: Solar Eclipse, India , New Delhi
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New Delhi: The Chinese used to think a dragon was eating up the sun and Indians stand neck deep in water expressing solidarity with the sun.
A solar eclipse brings the world together, in fear, if nothing else.
There's a solar eclipse scheduled for March 29 and tourists and scientists are gathering at spots around the world for the spectacular solar show.
The first total eclipse in years will sweep northeast from Brazil to Mongolia, blotting out the sun.
Wednesday's eclipse will also blot out the sun in highly populated areas, including west Africa, where governments scrambled to educate people about the dangers of looking at the eclipse without proper eye protection.
There have been several popular superstitions attached with the eclipse and have been passed down the generations.
In India too, there are some myths attached to the eclipse.
Pregnant women are advised not to go outside during the eclipse to avoid having a blind baby or one with a cleft lip.
It is also suggested that food cooked before the eclipse should be thrown out afterward as it becomes impure.
Another interesting story attached with the eclipse is that those who are holding a knife or axe or any other sharp instrumet during the eclipse will cut themselves.
The moon is expected to first begin blocking out the sun in the morning in Brazil before the path of greatest blockage migrates to Africa, then on to Turkey and up into Mongolia, where it will fade out with the sunset.
Most parts of north India will see a partial eclipse between 1630 hrs (IST) and 1830 hrs (IST) on Wednesday.
Celestial Superstitions | |
| Our forefathers perhaps did not understand the causes of eclipses (though they could often predict them), but just as we do today, they tried their best to explain them. Traditions and superstitions have a way of lingering, and so it is that even today we still have with us some very curious beliefs about eclipses. | |
 Pregnancy has been a particularly fecund source of superstitions. | |
| It’s said that pregnant woman goes out during an eclipse, her baby will be born blind or with a cleft lip. Also, there’s belief if a pregnant woman touches her belly during an eclipse here baby would be born with a birthmark. | |
| Another superstition that survives to this day is that eclipses indicate a disease on the sun or moon, and that protection is required to avoid incurring the diseases. | |
| In India, the pouplar belief is that all cooked food left uneaten during an eclipse should be given away, as it will have become impure. | |
| A superstition with rather more common sense behind it holds that anyone holding a knife during an eclipse will cut themselves. | |
| In Japan some still cover wells to avoid them being poisoned by the celestial "sickness." Some Eskimos turn over utensils to avoid them being contaminated, and in India some people lock themselves in their homes to avoid the "bad rays" from the eclipse. | |
| The ancient Chinese believed that solar eclipses were caused by a dragon trying to swallow the Sun. To this day, the Chinese for a solar eclipse is "resh" or "Sun-eat". Even today in many cultures around the world its common to yell, chant, bang pots and shoot into the air during an eclipse. Much of it is more out of tradition than conviction, but its still done. | |
| An eclipse in Nigeria in 2001 was seen by Muslim youths as anger from god for sinful activities. Find out more about the route of the eclipse across the Earth |
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