Obscure Mythology Chapter 5: Eclipses and their symbolism in different cultures.

I figured since we were on the letter E we could look at what the Mythology dictionary has to say about eclipses. I was happy to see that it had a very large write up with different meanings and stories from many ancient cultures so I figured we’d look at them all. The timing couldn’t be much better as we are expecting a solar eclipse in just over a month. It’ll be neat to see how some of our ancestors incorporated eclipses into their myths. It should be noted that many of our ancient forbearers  from the Sumerians to the Mayans and everyone in between were expert astronomers and plotted the movement of the celestial bodies with precision that can hardly be matched today even with our sophisticated technology. They could accurately predict eclipses, comets and the positioning of constellations and planets. Many of the ancient megaliths and structures (the pyramids in any country) were built on certain astrological alignments. The Great Pyramids of Egypt are aligned with the constellation Orien, while the great city of Tezcatlipoca (Aztec, Olmec before that) was aligned with the Cygnus constellation.  The stars and heavenly bodies were very important to our ancestors and it was their preoccupation with the celestial night that made up most of our myths and legends. Eclipses were thought to be very powerful omens or signs of important changes orchestrated by the Gods themselves. Just think about it, you are an average farmer from 10^th century Mexico when you hear word that the priests have said the Gods are angry and they will blot out the sun to show their displeasure, the only way to alleviate this displeasure is by sacrificing all of the king’s  prisoners on the day of the eclipse. All subjects of the king are to come and bring a sacrificial offering of one bushel of corn, whether it’s your last bushel of corn or not you bring it and yourself to the event in hopes it’ll keep the Gods and your king happy for another year.  The ancients most definitely used their knowledge of the stars to manipulate and control when necessary. Of course for the longest time humans worshipped the Sun as the Male and the Moon as the Female aspect in their myths so when one or the other was blocked it caused quite a bit of panic and hurried explanations. So I will stop rambling and share with you what the Mythology Dictionary has to say about eclipses and how people tried to understand them throughout the world in ancient times.

Eclipse: the temporary obscuring of the sun by the moon or the moon by earth’s shadow.  Such events inevitably perplexed early, unsophisticated peoples who invented many stories to account for the phenomenon, many of them asserting that the heavenly body was being devoured by some huge animal.

Armenia- It is said that the primeval ox gave birth to two offspring which appear as dark bodies in the heavens, blotting out the moon.

Baltic-  The Letts say that the body being eclipsed is being devoured by a huge animal.

Cambodia- The belief here is that a monster is devouring the heavenly body. Young girls are allowed out during this time to do homage to the monster.

China- The Chinese say that the body being eclipsed is under attack from some huge celestial animal and kick up a great din to frighten it away.

Egypt- During an eclipse, the pharaoh walked sunwise around the temple.

Hindu- It is said that an eclipse of the sun is caused by Svarbanhu while an eclipse of the moon occurs when it is swallowed by the demon Rahu.

Mexico- The Mexicans sacrificed humans (dwarves and hunchbacks) to propitiate the spirits causing the eclipse.

North America- (1) the Cherokee say that eclipses are caused when the moon (male) visits his wife, the sun.

                             (2) The Eskimos say that the sun and the moon are brother and sister who have sexual intercourse during an eclipse.

                             (3) The Ojibway believe that the sun will be totally extinguished in an eclipse and shoot flaming arrows in the sky to keep it lit.

                             (4) The Tlingit believe the same as the Cherokee but the moon is feminine and the sun masculine.

                             (5) In the Yukon the women invert their cooking pots to avoid contamination by the unclean vapors thought to descend during an eclipse.

The Pacific Islands- The Tahitians regard the two heavenly bodies as male and female and say the two are having sexual intercourse during an eclipse.

Siberia-  (1) The Buriats say that the sun or moon disappears when eaten by the monster Alka.

                (2) The Tartars believe an eclipse is caused by a vampire which lives on a star.

South America- (1) The Bakaira say that an eclipse is caused by a huge bird which obscures the moon with its wings.

                              (2) In Bolivia, Nicaragua and Peru they say that the body being obscured in an eclipse is being eaten by a huge jaguar and shoot arrows to drive the beast away.

                              (3) The Cavina say that the moon is being eaten by ants when it disappears in an eclipse.

                              (4) The Vilela believe much the same as the Bakaira but believe that it’s a huge bat, not bird.

(The Dictionary of Mythology an A-Z of themes, legends and heroes, J.A. Coleman)

So there you have some examples of eclipse myths from all over the world. There seems to be two different themes prevalent in these myths, the male/female sexual intercourse theme and the giant monster swallowing celestial bodies whole theme. Of course like every other myth we covered so far I expected there to be some similarities between cultures and it seemed as if they played off of one or the other, either the monster or the male/female aspect. The monster theme seemed to be from cultures who were afraid of or had little knowledge of astronomy, at least early on, while the male/female theme seems to be more relaxed and less dire. The dictionary only covered a few examples, I can only imagine what other people and cultures thought of these celestial phenomena. They have intrigued and frightened people for a millennia and even though we have scientific information to show eclipses work they still hold mystery to some and important omens to others. I really enjoyed looking at how these cultures explained and dealt with eclipses and look forward to doing more research on this subject in the future. Until then have a wonderful day and as always: PEACE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!