Eclipse myths

I'll keep my ears open. I'll also see about preparing some food, so if you don't hear from me after the eclipse, you'll know that one's confirmed.

Its going to miss me by an awful lot of water, as in the closest to me will be mid Atlantic, and I aint that good a swimmer?..

In the one we had here a few years ago... erm... ok, decade and a half maybe ago?.. we had totality overhead.
Surprisingly it didnt go that dark....

My kids were "Infant school" age, but, interested, so I did the thing the day before with a green football, a yellow one, and a tennis ball, then they kind of understood it, so watched with amazement, with sunglasses and proper supervision, then "how long until it does that again?."

Myths?.. everything from "The earth will end" to the dead rising, cows spoiling their milk, children will be "Born Bad", a lot of old wives tales that plainly make no sense,
Start here for some strange stuff... www.timeanddate.com/eclipse/solar-eclipse-myths.html


This has been cited elsewhere as one of the origins of howling at a moon myths for Vampires, as when the eclipse thing happens, some say these are days when Vampires can walk the earth without fear of the Sun, for it will not harm them for that full day...
The thing about Wolves and Vampires being mortal enemies?.. that comes into play, therefore, a howling dog can keep a vampire at bay, and you can see where that is going, if your dog is made to howl, you are safe......
Obviously bunkum, but who knows?.. origin of myths has to start somewhere, and this one is "plausible"?..
Why does my dog Howl?.. it keeps Vampires at bay.
But there are no vampires around here?.
Thats proving it works then isnt it?.

That quote from here... news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/04/140413-total-lunar-eclipse-myths-space-culture-science/

It goes on to explain about the Jaguar and how Inca's feared that, but, it has been used to fear other things as well in history.

It also hold this one..

Which gets a thumbs up from me?.. thats one that I dont care how it works, if it works, then bloody good on ya for keeping it going, and if its used to heal old arguments, then I can only applaud it.
This is how tradition starts and works, so use it?.. Any excuse to end arguments has to be good?.

Onwards to this site.. www.abc17news.com/news/eclipse-myths-and-superstitions/500022890

and this bit..


The Vikings used a LOT of the stars to navigate by, and they had a "thing" that you NEVER talk about navigation around a solar eclipse. You do not sail, you do not start, end, plan, or have anything to do with journeys around an eclipse, and if you are out, find the nearest port and stay there.
There isnt much more that "You just DONT even talk about it, its bad luck", so that one was pretty hard to research any further, so, indeed may be a difficult research, and explains why most of the writings involve the Sky Gods' wolves chasing the moon and sun and every now and again catching them, which isnt good for navigation...
Pretty much like my own family tradition of "First step" on New Years when the first person to enter you house has to be tall and carrying a piece of coal or other fuel for the fire, a traditional gift attached to the saying "Lang may yer lum reek" [long may your chimney smoke, meaning where there is a smoking chimney, there is warmth and hospitality, which is a good thing] but no one knows how and where that started or why, its just "done".

The chance of cloud cover is naturally proportional to how much money and effort you devote to getting there.

I'm here in a part of Texas that is prime viewing area, and we're already overcast with high winds ahead of a storm that's supposed to officially hit Tuesday but could come early.

more specifically, when the eclipse happens, the temperature will drop pretty rapidly, and so if the humidity is anywhere near the dewpoint, then clouds/fog will advance.

I was out watching (with a pin hole projector) during the eclipse. I didn't notice any change in temperature although I wasn't really paying that much attention. What I did notice was how really strange all the shadows were. My location was supposed to have something like 94% coverage. It did get much darker, but not really as dark as I expected. About like a cloudy day but still with strong shadows. The light was definitely not normal looking.