We hope you grabbed your telescope and organised a celestial party to witness the longest Lunar eclipse of the 21st century on July 27th of Friday and the early hours of July 28th. This eclipse was also the second and last Lunar eclipse of 2018.
For ages, superstition has been long associated with the lunar eclipse and that it was believed that our mind and body goes through some changes during the eclipse. So we hope you listened to your grandma when she asked you to take a bath after the eclipse or fast during it. Jokes apart, here are a list of 10 things about the blood moon, including rituals, that have been long followed by people:
- Avoid eating cooked food. During the eclipse, the food that you consume would not get digested properly leaving you feeling bloated, lethargic or formation of acidity.
- Avoid travelling during the eclipse and pregnant women are advised to stay indoors. Although there isn't any scientific reason behind these statements, it has been firmly engraved in our culture that the rays, which are more powerful during the eclipse, can affect the baby inside the womb.
- Taking a bath or washing hair after the eclipse. People have long associated that the negative energy and harmful rays will be washed clean by the water. However, scientifically rays cannot be washed by water.
- Avoid sexual intercourse during an eclipse. As the Medieval tale goes, sex during an eclipse could bring about the spawn of demon-children and might bring turmoil in life. This is not scientifically proven and was long considered a spiritual belief. But go ahead, unless you want to summon a demon child.
- Apart from the common rituals followed through the ages, there are a few people who believe in rituals, that have been used for centuries, during the Blood Moon phase. A few rituals include cleansing the space with incense sticks or crystals, blessing rituals, and meditating.
-During the eclipse phase, a few consider this as an opportunity to cleanse themselves and let go of their negative past, as the moon appears bright and new at the end of the eclipse.
-The total phase of the 'Blood Moon' eclipse lasted for 1 hour and 43 minutes. A partial eclipse preceded and followed the total phase of the eclipse, each lasting 1 hour and 6 minutes. So from the beginning to the end, the moon spent 3 hours and 55 minutes to cross the earth's dark shadow.
-It has been named 'Blood Moon' as the Moon gets a rusty orange or deep red colour when the sunlight is scattered through the Earth's atmosphere. It is also known as micro moon eclipse, as the moon will be at the farthest point from the earth and may look smaller than the normal full moon. There will be another guest during the eclipse, where Mars would glow brightly in opposition during the total lunar eclipse.
-While Africa, the Middle East, Southern Asia and the Indian Ocean region got an eyeful of the eclipse, North America wasn't able to witness it. Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai and other major cities could witness the complete eclipse.
-The eclipse is said to have begun from 11:44 pm IST, where the first phase set in from 11.54 pm IST and the total lunar eclipse from 1.00 am IST on July 28. The second phase of the eclipse was visible from around 2.43 am IST on July 28.
