I've talked about the sun and stars so far. I've even mentioned comets and meteors. I have yet to talk about one of the neatest astronomical events, at least in my opinion: the eclipse. I've seen several lunar eclipses in my lifetime, and at least one solar eclipse. It's really pretty neat. Over a period of time, the sun or moon is shadowed by the Earth in the case of the moon, or by the moon in the case of the sun. How would a culture that doesn't know what I do about eclipses interpret the sudden dissapearance of the sun or moon?

Some cultures have seen eclipses as omens of death or natural disaster. Coincidentally, there has been more than one earthquake that took place around the time of an eclipse. Eclipses have often frightened those who cannot explain them. It even frightened the Lydians and Medes into ending a five year war. A solar eclipse took place during a battle on 28 May 585 BC, and "the day was turned into night"

Yet other cultures believed eclipses were caused by a dragon that would eat the sun or moon. When an eclipse occurred, they, attempting to frighten the dragon away, would make noise by banging on drums and pans and they would shoot arrows into the sky. In India, they would immerse themselves in water up to their necks in an act of worship which was supossed to help the sun or moon defend itself from the dragon.

Not all cultures see eclipses as bad luck or frightening. Some see them as divine providence. Some tribes of the Arctic believe that the sun and moon will come down to the Earth every now and then to check and make sure things are alright. In Tahiti, eclipses are believed to be the sun and moon making love.

Eclipses have even been used as an advantage. On his fourth voyage to the Americas, Christopher Columbus became stranded on a Jamaican island. His ship damaged beyond repair and his provisions running low, he sought help from the natives of the land. This worked for awhile, but eventually the Jamaicans refused to help any longer. It seemed that Chris and his crew were in deep trouble. But the heavens intervened on our stranded explorer's behalf. According to his navigational tables, there would be a total lunar eclipse on 29 February. Using this to his advantage, he told the Jamaicans that God was upset with the way they were treating him and his crew, and, as punishment, was going to take away the moon. His timing was perfect. As soon as he had spoken, the moon began to 'disappear'. Naturally, the natives were terrified. They pleaded with Chris to restore the moon. He told them he'd have to talk to the Almighty and see. Just before the end of totality, he emerged and announced that God had pardoned the Jamaicans and would restore the moon. Just as planned, the moon began to reappear. Columbus was guarenteed food supply until he was rescued.

UPDATE 02/08/2008: SPACE.com -- How a Lunar Eclipse Saved Columbus