STRANGE ECLIPSE CUSTOMS.
I had intended heading this chapter "Eclipse Customs amongst Barbarous
Nations," but in these days it is dangerous to talk of barbarians or to
speak one's mind on points of social etiquette so I have thought it well
to tone down the original title, otherwise I should have the partisans
of the "Heathen Chinee" holding me up to scorn as a reviler of the
brethren.
Did space permit a very interesting record might be furnished of eclipse
customs in foreign parts.
An eclipse happened during Lord Macartney's embassy to China[160] which
kept the Emperor and his Mandarins for a whole day devoutly praying the
gods that the Moon might not be eaten up by the great dragon which was
hovering about her. The next day a pantomime was performed, exhibiting
the battle of the dragon and the Moon, and in which two or three hundred
priests, bearing lanterns at the end of long sticks, dancing and
capering about, sometimes over the plain, and then over chairs and
tables, bore no mean part.
Professor Russell, who is quoted elsewhere in this work with respect to
Chinese eclipses, makes the following remarks in regard to what happens
now in China when eclipses occur:--"It will be interesting here to note
that, even at present, by Imperial command, special rites are performed
during solar and lunar eclipses. A president from each of the six
boards, with two inferior officials, dressed in their official clothes,
proceed to the T'ai-Ch'ang-Ssu. When the eclipse begins they change
their robes for common garments made of plain black material, and
kneeling down, burn incense. The president then beats one stroke on a
gong, and the ceremony is taken up by all the attendant officials."
A writer in _Chambers's Journal_[161] in an article entitled "The Hindu
view of the late Eclipse," gives an interesting and original account of
divers Hindu superstitions and ceremonies which came under his notice in
connection with the total eclipse of the Sun of Aug. 18, 1868. He
remarks that "European science has as yet produced but little effect
upon the minds of the superstitious masses of India. Of the many
millions who witnessed the eclipse of the 18th of August last there were
comparatively few who did not verily believe that it was caused by the
dragon Rahu in his endeavour to swallow up the Lord of Day.... The
pious Hindu, before the eclipse comes on, takes a torch, and begins to
search his house and carefully removes all cooked food, and all water
for drinking purposes. Such food and water, by the eclipse, incur
_Grahana seshah_, that is, uncleanness, and are rendered unfit for use.
Some, with less scruples of conscience, declare that the food may be
preserved by placing on it _dharba_ or _Kusa grass_," and much more to
the like effect is duly set out in the interesting article cited.
During the total eclipse of the Sun of Aug. 7, 1869, the following
incident is noted[162] to have occurred at a station on the Chilkaht
river, in Alaska, North America, frequented by Indians:--
"About the time the Sun was half obscured the chief Koh-Klux and all the
Indians had disappeared from around the observing tent; they left off
fishing on the river banks; all employments were discontinued; and every
soul disappeared; nor was a sound heard throughout the village of 53
houses. The natives had been warned of what would take place, but
doubted the prediction. When it did occur they looked upon me as the
cause of the Sun's being 'very sick and going to bed.' They were
thoroughly alarmed, and overwhelmed with an undefinable dread."
A still more thrilling incident is thus recorded[163] of the eclipse of
July 29, 1878, by a witness at Fort Sill, Indian Territory, U.S.:--
"On Monday last we were permitted to see the eclipse of the Sun in a
beautiful bright sky. Not a cloud was visible. We had made ample
preparation, laying in a stock of smoked glass several days in advance.
It was the grandest sight I ever beheld, but it frightened the Indians
badly. Some of them threw themselves upon their knees and invoked the
Divine blessing; others flung themselves flat on the ground, face
downward; others cried and yelled in frantic excitement and terror.
Finally one old fellow stepped from the door of his lodge, pistol in
hand, and fixing his eyes on the darkened Sun, mumbled a few
unintelligible words and raising his arm took direct aim at the
luminary, fired off his pistol, and after throwing his arms about his
head in a series of extraordinary gesticulations retreated to his own
quarters. As it happened, that very instant was the conclusion of
totality. The Indians beheld the glorious orb of day once more peep
forth, and it was unanimously voted that the timely discharge of that
pistol was the only thing that drove away the shadow and saved them from
the public inconvenience that would have certainly resulted from the
entire extinction of the Sun."
A certain Mr. F. Kerigan, in a book published in 1844, made the
following remarks on ancient Jewish ideas respecting eclipses:--
"The Israelites, like their benighted neighbours, esteemed an eclipse of
either luminary as a supernatural and inauspicious omen, which filled
them with the most gloomy and fearful apprehensions: as may fairly be
deduced from the 8th chapter of Ezekiel, v. 15: 'Then he brought me to
the door of the Lord's House, which was towards the N.; and, behold
there sat women weeping for Tammuz.' Now Tammuz is the name under which
Adonis was known in Palestine: he was the favourite of Venus, or
Astarte, the principal goddess of the Philistines and Phoenicians. Being
killed by a wild boar, the prevailing superstition of the age induced
the uninformed multitude to believe that when the Moon was eclipsed, it
was in complement to their beloved goddess Venus or Astarte, who,
concealed behind the full Moon, sat weeping under a dark veil for the
loss of her beloved Tammuz or Adonis."[164]
The African travellers, R. and J. Lander, have given[165] a graphic
account of what took place on the occasion of the eclipse of the Moon of
Sept. 2, 1830, as witnessed by themselves:--"The earlier part of the
evening had been mild, serene, and remarkably pleasant. The Moon had
arisen with uncommon lustre, and being at the full, her appearance was
extremely delightful. It was the conclusion of the holidays, and many of
the people were enjoying the delicious coolness of a serene night, and
resting from the laborious exertions of the day; but when the Moon
became gradually obscured, fear overcame every one. As the eclipse
increased they became more terrified. All ran in great distress to
inform their sovereign of the circumstance, for there was not a single
cloud to cause so deep a shadow, and they could not comprehend the
nature or meaning of an eclipse.... Groups of men were blowing on
trumpets, which produced a harsh and discordant sound; some were
employed in beating old drums, others again were blowing on bullocks'
horns.... The diminished light, when the eclipse was complete, was just
sufficient for us to distinguish the various groups of people, and
contributed in no small degree to render the scene more imposing. If a
European, a stranger to Africa, had been placed on a sudden in the midst
of the terror-struck people, he would have imagined himself to be among
a legion of demons, holding a revel over a fallen spirit."
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 159: _Bibliographie Astronomique._ Paris, 1803. Indexed at
p. 938.]
[Footnote 160: _Authentic Account of an Embassy to China_, by Sir G.
Staunton.]
[Footnote 161: Fourth Series, vol. v. p. 676. October 24, 1868.]
[Footnote 162: _Report U.S. Coast Survey_, 1869, p. 179.]
[Footnote 163: Letter published in the _Philadelphia Inquirer_.]
[Footnote 164: _A Practical Treatise on Eclipses_, p. 2.]
[Footnote 165: _Journal of an Expedition to Explore the Niger_, vol.
i. p. 366.]