Eclipses in Storytelling

In A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain, his hero (who is transported back to Camelot) gets captured but avoids being hanged with a wave of his hand, seemingly making the Sun go dark.

“For a lesson, I will let this darkness proceed, and spread night in the world; but whether I blot out the sun for good, or restore it, shall rest with you.”

Of course, our hero remembered the date of a historic (and conveniently timed) eclipse of the Sun. Fortunately, the Medieval people thought he had the magical ability to blot out the Sun! Our hero is then proclaimed “The Boss” by the King, and sets out to modernize Camelot with knowledge of the future.

A Solar Eclipse and Fear

For many people in ancient times, a total solar eclipse generated fear. They thought the world would end or a great evil would follow.

Myths often involved a beast trying to destroy the Sun with the fate of Earth hanging in the balance—or, a Sun-god becoming angry, sad, or sick.

Native people in Colombia shouted to the heavens, promising to work hard and mend their ways. Some worked their gardens and other projects especially hard during the eclipse to prove it.

In Norse culture, the gods put an evil enchanter, Loki, into chains. Loki got revenge by creating wolflike giants, one of which swallowed the Sun—thereby causing an eclipse. (Another of the giant wolves chased the Moon, trying to eat it.)

Fear led Chippewa people to shoot flaming arrows into the sky to try to rekindle the Sun. Tribes in Peru did the same for a different reason; they hoped to scare off a beast attacking the Sun.

In India, the demon spirit Rahu steals and consumes the nectar of immortality but is beheaded before he can swallow it. His immortal head flies into the heavens. The Sun and Moon had alerted the gods to his theft, so he takes revenge on them: When Rahu swallows an orb, we have an eclipse—but the orb returns to view because Rahu has no body!

Similarly, in China, Mongolia, and Siberia, beheaded mythical characters chase and consume the Sun and Moon—and we experience eclipses.

In Indonesia and Polynesia, Rahu consumes the Sun—but burns his tongue doing so and spits it out!

In Armenia, a dragon swallowed the Sun and Moon.

In Transylvanian folklore, an eclipse stems from the angry Sun turning away and covering herself with darkness, in response to men’s bad behavior.

In India, many believe that when an eclipse occurs a dragon is trying to seize the two orbs. People immerse themselves in rivers up to their neck, imploring the Sun and Moon to defend them against the dragon.

https://www.almanac.com/solar-eclipse-folklore-myths-and-superstitions