20.3

• Eclipses


  Events where the Sun or Moon is obscured from view
• Beliefs and superstitions about eclipses


  • Deities, dragons, and other beings toying with or attempting to devour Sun or Moon
  • People praying, making offerings, or attempting to ward off these beings
  • Eclipses seen as evil omens that bring death, destruction and disasters
• Bakunawa


  • Serpent-like dragon in Philippine mythology
  • Believed to be the cause of eclipses, earthquakes, rain and wind
  • Inhabits either the sky or the underworld
  • An evil dragon originating from pre-colonial Philippine myth

  
• Bakunawa's role in eclipses


  Rises up from the sea and swallows the seven moons whole
• In some areas of the Philippines, pregnant women stay indoors during an eclipse for fear of its effects
• Beliefs about effects of eclipses on pregnant women


  • Cause unusual blinking habit for children
  • Unborn child could develop deformity
• No scientific evidence or proof has been established connecting pregnancy and eclipse according to beliefs
• The belief has been shared and passed on for generations
• Historical beliefs about eclipses


  • Christopher Columbus manipulating Jamaican locals using predicted knowledge of a lunar eclipse
  • Ancient Chinese belief that eclipses are caused by a dragon devouring the Sun or Moon
  • Toba people in South America believing dead spirits in the form of jaguars attacked the moon deity
  • Hindu mythology of the demon Rahu devouring the Sun or Moon
• Even with the dawn of the scientific era, the mystique of eclipses hasn't completely vanished
• There are still some parts of the world that believe supernatural causes for eclipses