By Suresh Kurl
I have said this before and I say it again that even though evolution forced us apart over thousands of years, the spirituality of the American Indigenous people and the people of ancient India are similar in many ways. Today, during my research I found another similarity. For example, as a child, I was told that the Solar and Lunar eclipses are a result of Rahu and Ketu gobbling up the sun and the moon. As it is a time of extreme distress for the god sun and the moon, we should suspend all aspects of daily business and only pray to God for their freedom and victory over their enemies. Additionally, we are not supposed to look at the eclipsed sun or the moon.
The American Indian tribes revere the sun and moon as cultural deities. Like us, they also consider them as great sources of power and givers of life.
The Navajo people, indigenous to Utah, Arizona and New Mexico, believe the passing of the moon over the sun is “an intimate moment in which the sun is reborn and tribal members take time out for themselves; no talking, no eating or drinking, no lying down and no fussing.”
According to the Denver Post of August 19-25, 2017, the American Indian tribes hope for renewal in solar eclipse and not all will watch today’s solar eclipse.
Contrary to the Indigenous Americans and my own beliefs, a Christian American couple: Samantha and Camron: took their wedding vows today, exactly at the moment of the total eclipse in St. Joseph, Missouri, USA. And the parents of a baby girl, born in Greenville, South Carolina, USA, named her daughter “Eclipse”, because she was born during the eclipse.
The birth of a child during the eclipsed period is a different issue; no one can control a birth. But I know no Hindu priest will ever perform a wedding ceremony in India. However, despite my cultural differences, I wish the couple a long and happy married life and pray for a happy, healthy long life for the baby girl.
