Folklore, facts and figures around solar eclipses

Partial solar eclipses are observable from locations up to 3,000 miles away from the path of totality. (Photo: Zoltan Tasi via Unsplash)

From ancient civilisations to modern-day astronomers, solar eclipses continue to captivate our imagination with their unique tales and intriguing facts.

In ancient Greece, a solar eclipse was seen as a foreboding sign, believed to herald impending doom — a belief reflected in the very word “eclipse”, which is derived from the Greek word “ekleipsis”, meaning “being abandoned”.

Similarly, ancient Chinese emperors relied on eclipse predictions to safeguard their reign, with failed forecasts often met with severe consequences, as two unfortunate astrologers, Hsi and Ho, discovered.

Viking folklore portrays a dramatic chase between the sun god and a wolf, culminating in a solar eclipse when the wolf catches its elusive prey.

Similarly, indigenous Pomo tales attribute the darkening of the sun to a bear’s playful mischief — a stark contrast to the ominous omens of mediaeval Europe. The Pomo name for a solar eclipse is “Sun got bit by a bear.”

In Italy, it is believed that flowers planted during a solar eclipse are brighter and more colourful than flowers planted any other time of the year.

Eclipses have even influenced literature and history, with authors like John Milton and Mark Twain immortalising their eerie beauty and societal impact. John Milton, in Paradise Lost (1667), captures the unease eclipses generated in early Europeans:

As when the Sun, new risen,
Looks through the horizontal misty air,
Shorn of his beams, or from behind the Moon,
In dim eclipse, disastrous twilight sheds
On half the nations, and with fear of changePerplexes monarchs.

Beyond myths and legends, eclipses hold scientific significance. During an eclipse, local wildlife often prepares for rest or exhibits confused behaviour, while temperatures can plummet by 20 degrees or more near totality.

Partial solar eclipses are observable from locations up to 3,000 miles away from the path of totality.

Each year, a maximum of five solar eclipses, including partial, annular, or total eclipses, occur worldwide, with at least two solar eclipses happening somewhere on Earth.

Helium, the second most abundant element in the universe, was discovered on August 18, 1868, by French astronomer Jules Janssen during a total solar eclipse in India. Its name “helium” derives from “helios”, the Greek word for the sun, as it was initially detected in the sun's spectrum.