Eclipses of the Sun and of the Moon have been described by nearly every culture. In cultures without an astronomical explanation, eclipses were often attributed to supernatural causes or regarded as bad omens.
Religious and cultural practices While solar and lunar eclipses are today understood astronomically as one celestial body shadowing another, their appearance from Earth does not intuitively belie a similar cause for each.: "Taking the view of an uninformed person, the phenomenon of a lunar and solar eclipse presents itself very different in nature: different in frequency, different in daytime, different in length, different in the visual conditions. It is not obvious at all to comprehend that an eclipse is nothing more than an interplay of shadows caused by the bodies of earth or moon." Mark Littmann, Fred Espenak, and Ken Willcox classified solar eclipse mythologies into four distinct genres:
A celestial being (usually a monster) attempts to destroy the Sun. The Sun fights with its lover, the Moon. The Sun and Moon make love and discreetly hide themselves in darkness. The Sun god grows angry, sad, sick, or neglectful.
Abrahamic religions Judaism In the Talmud, solar eclipses are described as ill omens and several events in the Hebrew Bible are said to have occurred during eclipses.: "For those interested in deeper study, events in the books of Joshua, Amos, and Jonah are often explained as having been accompanied by solar eclipses, and rabbinical scholars have even drawn upon science to date these eclipses with some specificity to the times when these events are thought to have taken place" Judaism at large has been accepting of the modern astronomical explanation of eclipses and today, many rabbis consider eclipses to be reminders of divinity and a time for prayer and introspection.: "Judaism has longstanding interconnections with astronomy"
Christianity
The periodicity of lunar eclipses was deduced by Neo-Babylonian astronomers in the sixth century BCE,: "Babylonian use of this eclipse period, which is known as the 'saros' to modern historians and astronomers, may go back to the earliest systematically recorded eclipse observations, which commence in the mid-eighth century BC. It was certainly in use by the sixth century BC, as seen from a cuneiform list of lunar eclipses" and the periodicity of solar eclipses was deduced in first century BCE by Greek astronomers, who developed the Antikythera mechanism: "To each of these months was assigned a separate cell, which in the case of an eclipse month carried an inscription composed of small glyphs and an index letter. The glyphs were there to differentiate between a lunar and a solar eclipse " and had understood the Sun, Moon, and Earth to be spherical celestial bodies: "An aspect of the mechanism that seems distinctly non-Babylonian is the idea of factoring parallax into eclipse predictions, which rests on an understanding of eclipses as involving the interplay of three spherical bodies (Sun, Earth, Moon)" since Aristotle.: "if the eclipses are due to the interposition of the earth, the shape must be caused by its circumference, and the earth must be spherical" The astronomical understanding of eclipses was thus well understood in the Ancient Near East, in which Christianity developed. The New Testament describes the sky as darkening for hours during the crucifixion of Jesus. As the event's lengthy duration and occurrence on the day of a full moon made it clear to contemporary believers that it could not be an eclipse, early Christians interpreted this as an omen and sign of Jesus's divinity.: "Those who were not aware that this had been predicted about Christ, no doubt thought it an eclipse" In 12th-century Christian Europe, eclipses were thus connected to earthly rule, where the deaths of Charlemagne and Henry I were preceded by solar and lunar eclipses.: "The miraculous solar eclipse associated with the death of Christ in the medieval period offered a framework for Christian writers for a similar association of the cosmic phenomenon with earthly rulership" Saints were often also connected with eclipses, with a solar eclipse at their death a sign of their holiness.: "The saints are presented as martyrs, a solar eclipse marking their moment of death or its prefigurement, completing the imitation of Christ and drawing on the same understanding of the darkness at the crucifixion in Luke's gospel" Christian eschatology makes mention of eclipse-like phenomena, where Revelation 6:12 describes how "the sun became black as sackcloth, the full moon became like blood." A minority of modern Christians believe eclipses to portend the Second Coming.: "The upcoming solar eclipse on April 8, 2024, which will be visible over parts of North America, has brought with it a slew of predictions that Jesus might be returning sooner rather than later."
Islam
Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world was well-developed, and contributions included Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn Maṭar's translation of Ptolemy's Almagest, in which he corrected Ptolemy's method for predicting eclipses.: "Remembering that al-Ḥajjāj was apparently conscious of the environment of competition that we just spoke about, he could not afford to have what looked like a mistake in the translation, and took it upon himself to correct the Greek text" Theologically, the Quran explicitly rejects notions of the Sun and Moon's divinity:
In one hadith, Muhammad objects to followers' treatment of an eclipse as an omen and states that eclipses have no bearing on earthly life and death:
On the basis of this accounts in which Muhammad's actions instructed his followers to pray during eclipses as a reminder of God's power, many Muslims today conduct special optional but encouraged communal "eclipse prayers" (in ).: "The hadith above stating that eclipses are one of the signs of God () makes the a kind of communal remembrance of divine power and sovereignty. The prayer is not supplicatory, in the sense of a prayer being made to achieve a specific end; but, rather, it becomes used as a vehicle for the community to remember their place in the universe, the sovereignty of God, and God's authority over all created things" With modern eclipse prediction techniques, congregations today announce eclipse prayers in advance: "More than a thousand people gathered at the East Plano Islamic Center Monday to watch the total solar eclipse and pray , a special prayer observed by some Muslims during eclipses": "Imam Imran Salha of the Islamic Center of Detroit said that prayers for the eclipse will be held at 2 p.m. Monday" as Islam places a great theological weight on communal prayer.: "The role of 'coming together' serves as a theological reminder that all Muslims are part of the and should respond as one in certain situations"
Classical Greco-Roman mythology
Plutarch associated the birth of Romulus, the foundation of Rome, and his death with three solar eclipses.: "Classical literature has associated Romulus's birth, his foundation of Rome, and his death, with eclipses.": "We know from the de Re Publica (51 BC) that Ennius discussed the apotheosis of Romulus, dating it by an eclipse." Scholars have attempted to substantiate these mythological claims through modern astronomical computation, and have not been able to find eclipses on the dates traditionally given for these events.: "If you accept the dates of Romulus's life and foundation of Rome recorded in the classical histories, the eclipse record shows the association with eclipses is mere myth." Plutarch's eclipse associations are therefore generally treated by modern scholars as part of the mythic elaboration of Rome's foundation story rather than as historically reliable astronomical records.
Hindu mythology
According to Hindu mythology, solar and lunar eclipses, known in Sanskrit as occur when the celestial gods Rahu and Ketu swallow the Sun and Moon, respectively.: "With the generality of the Hindus the eclipse is the swallowing of the sun and the moon for a time by a demon called Rahu": "In Hindu mythology Rahu and Ketu are regarded as celestial bodies that swallow the Moon and the Sun thus causing lunar and solar eclipses respectively"
Hindus generally believe that a is a bad omen, and is considered the best time to chant mantras that ward against evil.: "The eclipse time is considered a most auspicious time for mastering the incantations for exorcising the evil effects of serpent bite, or scorpion-sting, and of devils, and many specialists in these directions would be seen standing in water and muttering these incantations" Fasting is practiced for up to six hours before an eclipse. Food is often prepared only after the passing of the eclipse, and conventions regarding consuming meals at given hours in the context of the event are prescribed in the Kurma Purana.Kurma Purana, II.19.15: "One should not take food immediately before the Solar eclipse. If there is a lunar eclipse, he should not take food in that evening. In the course of the duration of the eclipse also, one should not take food. After the liberation (i.e. close of the eclipse), he should (first) take bath and take food." During an eclipse, Hindus are considered unclean. They bathe and offer prayers to ancestors. Pilgrimage sites situated adjacent to a river throng with devotees during the onset of a in some regions.: "It is held that everyone is unclean during an eclipse, and should bathe and wash away that uncleanliness" Pregnant women are considered to be especially at risk to the effects of an eclipse and are expected to adhere more strictly to rituals to prevent birth deformities in their children.: "Pregnant women are in special danger from eclipses, because eclipses may bring on deformities in the children they bear" It is regarded to be a bad omen to be born during an eclipse, and Brahmins are often called upon to ritually bless such babies.
Native American traditions
The Indigenous peoples of the Americas have very diverse cultural practices and beliefs about eclipses.
Maya Since the sixteenth century, Western scholars have been interested in "eclipse glyphs" recorded by the Maya civilisation in the Dresden Codex, thought by historians to be predictions of solar and lunar eclipses.: "Westerners have been interested in Mesoamerican interpretations of eclipses since the sixteenth century A.D." As there is no evidence for Maya understanding of heliocentrism or celestial orbits, such eclipse predictions were likely made entirely from observed periodicity.: "Interestingly enough, the Maya mapped out the entire eclipse program for the future with neither knowledge of nor interest in the concept of the nodes of the lunar orbit or the 19-year nodal regression period that has been given so much attention in megalithic astronomy of the Old World" However, some scholars argue that the glyphs in the Mayan codices refer to skies darkened from heavy rainfall, and not to eclipses.
Aztec In Aztec mythology, solar eclipses occurred when the jaguar god Tepēyōllōtl consumed the sun and threatened to swallow it completely, according to Eduard Seler's analysis of the Codex Vaticanus B.: "For the Mexicans the jaguar was the animal that devours the sun, at the time when the sun was devoured, that is, when a solar eclipse; occurred. Hence for the Mexicans he denoted darkness, and his image, the god Tepeyollotli, is a god of caves, of the dark interior of the mountains" A 16th century passage from the Florentine Codex gives an account of a solar eclipse: