There are lots of bizarre myths around the lunar eclipse. (Many of them peddled by some newspapers.) But here's the truth in them.

Millions of people will have the opportunity to see a lunar eclipse – an event popularly known in the media as a “ blood moon” – on Friday. Visible for most of the world – only North America and Greenland are expected to miss out – it’s set to be the longest one this century, so there is plenty of time to take a look.

During such an eclipse, the full moon moves into the shadow of the Earth cast by the sun, and is momentarily darkened. Some sunlight still reaches the moon, refracted by the Earth’s atmosphere, however, illuminating it with an ashen to dark red glow, the colour depending on atmospheric conditions.

As a communicator of astronomy , the term “blood moon” is a major thorn in my side, since it suggests something other than a lunar eclipse and conjures images of a moon shimmering in crimson red colours, which is not at all accurate. But as a cultural astronomer, the phrase displays some of the interesting ways in which modern society creates its sky stories.

Lunar eclipses have fascinated cultures across the globe, and inspired several striking myths and legends, many of which portray the event as an omen. This is not surprising, since if anything interrupts the regular rhythms of the sun or moon it impacts strongly upon us and our lives.


Lunar malevolence

For many ancient civilisations, the “blood moon” came with evil intent. The ancient Inca people interpreted the deep red colouring as a jaguar attacking and eating the moon. They believed that the jaguar might then turn its attention to Earth, so the people would shout, shake their spears and make their dogs bark and howl, hoping to make enough noise to drive the jaguar away.

In ancient Mesopotamia, a lunar eclipse was considered a direct assault on the king. Given their ability to predict an eclipse with reasonable accuracy, they would put in place a proxy king for its duration. Someone considered to be expendable (it was not a popular job), would pose as the monarch, while the real king would go into hiding and wait for the eclipse to pass. The proxy king would then conveniently disappear, and the old king be reinstated.


Some Hindu folktales interpret lunar eclipses as the result of the demon Rahu drinking the elixir of immortality. Twin deities the sun and moon promptly decapitate Rahu, but having consumed the elixir, Rahu’s head remains immortal. Seeking revenge, Rahu’s head chases the sun and moon to devour them. If he catches them we have an eclipse – Rahu swallows the moon, which reappears out of his severed neck.

For many people in India, a lunar eclipse bears ill fortune. Food and water are covered and cleansing rituals performed. Pregnant women especially should not eat or carry out household work, in order to protect their unborn child.
In a lunar eclipse, the Earth passes directly between the moon and the sun


A friendlier face

But not all eclipse myths are beset by such malevolence. The Native American Hupa and Luiseño tribes from California believed that the moon was wounded or ill. After the eclipse, the moon would then need healing, either by the moon’s wives or by tribesmen. The Luiseño, for example, would sing and chant healing songs towards the darkened moon.

Altogether more uplifting is the legend of the Batammaliba people in Togo and Benin in Africa. Traditionally, they view a lunar eclipse as a conflict between sun and moon – a conflict that the people must encourage them to resolve. It is therefore a time for old feuds to be laid to rest, a practice that has remained until this day.

In Islamic cultures, eclipses tend to be interpreted without superstition. In Islam, the sun and moon represent deep respect for Allah, so during an eclipse special prayers are chanted including a Salat-al-khusuf, a “prayer on a lunar eclipse”. It both asks Allah’s forgiveness, and reaffirms Allah’s greatness.


A misleading history

Returning once more to blood, Christianity has equated lunar eclipses with the wrath of God, and often associates them with the crucifixion of Jesus. It is notable that Easter is the first Sunday after the first full moon of spring, ensuring that an eclipse can never fall on Easter Sunday, a potential mark of Judgement Day.


Indeed, the term “blood moon” was popularised in 2013 following the release of the book Four Blood Moons by Christian minister John Hagee. He promotes an apocalyptic belief known as the “blood moon prophecy” highlighting a lunar sequence of four total eclipses that occurred in 2014/15. Hagee notes that all four fell on Jewish holidays, which has only happened three times before – each apparently marked by bad events.

The prophecy was dismissed by Mike Moore (General Secretary of Christian Witness to Israel) in 2014, but the term is still regularly used by the media and has become a worrying synonym for a lunar eclipse.

Given the enduring superstitions, it is profoundly unhelpful for science communicators trying to remind everyone that the so-called “blood moon” is nothing to be feared. It may be impressive, and it may be the longest for a century, but it is simply an eclipse.

So, by using the term “blood moon”, we are combining superstition with science, just as the Hindu folktale of Rahu provides a legendary description of lunar orbital mechanics.

The “blood moon” attracts interest in the sky and lunar eclipses, but rather than awaiting doom and destruction we can better view it along the lines of the Islamic interpretation – as a monumental illustration of the fascinating and real motions of our solar system. So my suggestion is this: watch the lunar eclipse as the sky unfolds above you. Give it your own name, give it your own meaning, and enjoy it with your friends and family.

And I think you’ll find that the term “blood moon” cannot do justice to the wonder of what you’re watching.

wer d moon

First Nigerian sighting of the Blood Moon...

lalasticlala
mynd44

i can't see it in Abuja

LuciferChristi:
First Nigerian sighting of the Blood Moon...

lalasticlala
mynd44

This is the setting of the sun

Follow a livestream of the lunar eclipse here:
https://www.facebook.com/TheIndependentOnline/videos/10156276215141636/

LuciferChristi:
First Nigerian sighting of the Blood Moon...

lalasticlala
mynd44

...

Na oil companies gas flaring lights full sky for here.

Location: KWC

Enouwem:
This is the setting of the sun

No bro. Can't you see the blood dripping from the moon?

I never see anything for Lagos o

I think weather plays a major factor coz for here I never even see moon not to talk of blood.

ChiefAzubuike:
I think weather plays a major factor coz for here I never even see moon not to talk of blood.

Some parts are very cloudy

I don't miss such events as this.
As seen from my hood.
It's possible that the star - like body close to the moon is Mars. The report says Mars would also be making it's closest approach to the earth in years.

Space booked for pictures from the last quarter of the eclipse.
Edited : The moon is hemorrhaging, somebody help.
Those of you who couldn't view it, your sins in that hood are too much, you can't be allowed to view such glory with sinful eyes

I am even angry, the weather here is not encouraging. after all the wait....

I haven't sighted the moon, but the sky is reddish in Lekki, Lagos.

It appear the Lunar Eclipse in Port Harcourt is doing shakara or it has been kidnapped to the wilderness of sin

The sky is just dark, no moon, no star, nothing but the gas flare reflections that give the night some red flashes.

Will check again at 9.30pm

the one i saw s piss moon

Not here in Benin,no moon not to talk of blood moon

Blue moon kor, Bluetooth ni

Seen

Nothing is showing here I beg

Live from Kaduna, The moon Kidnapped itself and would probably be released 24hrs from now.

In pH its just coming out

Milk moon will soon appear

Water moon nko

LuciferChristi:
First Nigerian sighting of the Blood Moon...

lalasticlala
mynd44

oga,na sun de set o






Meanwhile here in Jos, the blood moon is as big as Buhari's projects and promises that's why we cannot see it
If you know,you know

I can't find anything at my end here. Ijaye Lagos precisely.

cloud is playing politics with my view here in lagos

I can't see any moon here. Sky is cloudy in my part of Lagos

I saw it this evening at Ikeja, just didn't bother to snap.

location: Auchi poly..
i ran outside for mai house just now i no see anything