Wednesday, February 20, 2008

When solar fears eclipse reason "...ancient belief that an eclipse presaged war and devastation" ... "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"." * Eclipses Through Traditions & Cultures "Most early calendars were lunar calendars, because the monthly duration of the lunar cycle is 29.53 days, 12.37 months during a solar seasonal year. Every year, the lunar "synodic" calendar of 29.53 days slips by 0.38 of a month or 11.2 days relative to the seasonal "planting" year. At the same time that ancient peoples kept track of how the lunar and solar calenders meshed with each other, they also uncovered some of the factors that lead to lunar and solar eclipses which also require specific timings of the solar and lunar positions across the sky and over the years. In many ways, the ability to predict eclipses was an outgrowth of the pre-existing need to keep track of lunar and solar calender relationships." * Ancient myths revisited with lunar eclipse "During lunar eclipses, native residents in the Arctic still turn over their utensils to prevent contamination."

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