There appears to be a notion universally prevailing among uncivilised
people that, during an eclipse of the sun or moon, the two luminaries
are quarrelling with each other, or that their conjugal happiness is
being disturbed by some intruding monster.
The natives of the Polynesian Islands have an old tradition, according
to which the moon (called _marama_) is the wife of the sun (called
_ra_), and, during an eclipse, the moon is supposed to be bitten or
pinched by some angry spirit.[12]
The Javanese, and the natives of the Indian Archipelago in general, when
an eclipse takes place, shout and beat gongs to prevent the sun or moon
from being devoured by the great dragon (called _n·ga_), which they
suppose to be attacking the luminary.[13] This notion appears to have
been adopted by the Malays from the Hindus, in whose mythology a god
called Rahu--who is recorded to have been originally a giant, and who is
painted black--at the time of an eclipse swallows up the sun and moon,
and vomits them up again.
Of the Chinese we are told: "As soon as they perceive that the sun or
moon begins to be darkened, they throw themselves on their knees and
knock their foreheads against the earth. A noise of drums and cymbals is
immediately heard throughout the whole city. This is the remains of an
ancient opinion entertained in China, that by such a horrid din they
assist the suffering luminary, and prevent it from being devoured by the
celestial dragon."[14]
The Greenlanders have, according to Crantz, a somewhat similar
tradition; but, instead of musical instruments, the men carry kettles
and boxes to the top of the house, and rattle and beat them, and the
women pinch the dogs by the ears, to frighten away the moon, who, they
suppose, is insulting his wife, the sun.[15] In Greenland, the moon is
the man, and the sun is the wife, as in Germany.
Again, the Negroes in Western Africa appear to have much the same
notion. The traveller Lander, during his stay at Boussa in Soudan,
witnessed the wild behaviour of the Negroes at the occurrence of an
eclipse of the moon. Their principal exertions to avert the supposed
impending calamity consisted in blowing trumpets, beating drums, singing
and shouting.[16]
The Japanese legend of the sun-goddess, who, after having hidden herself
in a cavern, is enticed from her dark abode by the power of music, is
apparently likewise a poetical conception of an eclipse. Titsingh, in
reciting the same tradition, says that Fensio-Daysin, the sun-goddess,
fled to the cavern in consequence of a dispute she had with her brother,
Sasanno-Ono-Mikotto, the god of the moon.[17]
From these examples it seems that musical performances, or, at least,
the sounds of loud instruments, are considered the most effective agent
for appeasing the anger of the quarrelling celestial bodies. But there
is no reason to assume that this peculiar notion originally emanated
from one people. Like several other popular traditions, it most likely
owes its origin to impressions produced on the mind by a certain natural
phenomenon; and it may, therefore, have suggested itself to different
nations quite independently, instead of having been transmitted from one
nation to another.