Jane+J.+Lee

Eclipses haven't always been events that people looked forward to. Many ancient cultures saw solar or lunar eclipses as a challenge to the normal order of things， says E. C. Krupp， director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles， California. "Things that shouldn't be happening are happening."

Howling at the Moon

"[The Inca1）] didn't see eclipses as being anything at all good，" says David Dearborn， a researcher at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California， who has written extensively on how the Inca viewed astronomy. Accounts written by Spanish settlers in the New World record the Incan practices surrounding eclipses， he says.

Among the collected myths is a story about a jaguar2） that attacked and ate the moon. The big cat's assault3） explained the rusty4） or blood-red color that the moon often turned during a total lunar eclipse.

The Inca feared that after it attacked the moon， the jaguar would crash5） to Earth to eat people， Dearborn says. To prevent that， they would try to drive the predator away by shaking spears6） at the moon and making a lot of noise， including beating their dogs to make them howl and bark.

A Substitute King

The ancient Mesopotamians7） also saw lunar eclipses as an assault on the moon， says Krupp. But in their stories， the assailants8） were seven demons.

Traditional cultures linked what happened in the sky to circumstances on Earth， he says. And because the king represented the land in Mesopotamian culture， the people viewed a lunar eclipse as an assault on their king. "We know from written records [that Mesopotamians] had a reasonable ability to predict lunar eclipses，" says Krupp. So in anticipation of an eclipse， they would install9） a surrogate10） king intended to bear the brunt11） of any attack.

"Typically， the person declared to be king would be someone expendable12），" Krupp says. Though the substitute wasn't really in charge， he would be treated well during the eclipse period， while the actual king masqueraded13） as an ordinary citizen. Once the eclipse passed， "as you might expect， the substitute kings typically disappeared，" Krupp says， and may have been dispatched14） by poisoning.

Healing the Moon

The eclipse myth told by the Hupa， a Native American tribe from northern California， has a happier ending.

The Hupa believed the moon had 20 wives and a lot of pets， says Krupp. Most of those pets were mountain lions and snakes， and when the moon didn't bring them enough food to eat， they attacked and made him bleed. The eclipse would end when the moon's wives would come in to protect him， collecting his blood and restoring him to health， Krupp says.endprint

To the Luise?o tribe of southern California， an eclipse signaled that the moon was ill， says Krupp. It was tribe members' job to sing chants15） or prayers to bring it back to health.

Modern Myths

Not all cultures view an eclipse as a bad thing， says Jarita Holbrook， a cultural astronomer at the University of the Western Cape in Bellville， South Africa， in an interview last year.

"My favorite myth is from the Batammaliba people in Togo and Benin in Africa，" she says. In this myth， the sun and the moon are fighting during an eclipse， and the people encourage them to stop. "They see it as a time of coming together and resolving old feuds16） and anger，" Holbrook says. "It's a myth that has held to this day."

人們并非自古以來就很期待見到日食或月食這種現(xiàn)象。很多古文明將日食或月食視為對萬物正常秩序的一種挑釁，美國加利福尼亞州洛杉磯市格里菲斯天文臺(tái)臺(tái)長E. C.克虜伯表示：“即發(fā)生了不應(yīng)該發(fā)生的事情?！?/p>

對月吼叫

“在印加人眼中，月食根本就不是什么好事兒。”加利福尼亞州勞倫斯·利弗莫爾國家實(shí)驗(yàn)室研究員戴維·迪爾伯恩說道。他在印加人如何看待天文現(xiàn)象方面著述頗豐。他說，遷居新大陸的西班牙殖民者所著的諸多文獻(xiàn)中都記錄了印加人所做的與月食密切相關(guān)的各種行為。

在印加人的神話故事集里，有一則神話故事講到了一只攻擊和吞食月亮的美洲豹。正是因?yàn)樵獾竭@只美洲豹的攻擊，月亮才會(huì)在月全食時(shí)常常呈現(xiàn)出紅褐色或血紅色。

迪爾伯恩說，印加人擔(dān)心這只美洲豹攻擊完月亮之后會(huì)闖到地球上來吃人，為防止這種情況發(fā)生，他們就會(huì)對著月亮揮舞長矛，并制造大量噪音（包括通過毆打他們的狗使其嚎叫狂吠），試圖借此趕走這只猛獸。

偷換國王

古美索不達(dá)米亞人也認(rèn)為月食是月亮受到攻擊的表現(xiàn)，克虜伯說。只不過他們故事里的襲擊者是七個(gè)惡魔。

他說，傳統(tǒng)文化將天象變化和地球上的狀況聯(lián)系在了一起。由于在美索不達(dá)米亞文化里，國王代表土地，于是人們就將月食視為對國王的攻擊。“我們從書面文獻(xiàn)中得知，美索不達(dá)米亞人擁有較好的預(yù)測月食的能力。”克虜伯說。因此，在預(yù)計(jì)月食即將來臨之際，他們就會(huì)任用一個(gè)旨在首當(dāng)其沖的假國王。

“一般來說，被宣布為假國王的人會(huì)是一個(gè)可以被犧牲的人?！笨颂敳f。雖然假國王沒有實(shí)權(quán)，但人們在月食期間仍會(huì)好好服侍他，而真國王則要偽裝成平民。一旦月食結(jié)束，“如你所料，假國王總會(huì)消失不見，” 克虜伯說，可能已經(jīng)被毒死了。

治愈月亮

胡帕人是美洲土著部落的一支，生活在加利福尼亞州北部地區(qū)。他們講述的月食神話結(jié)局更美好一些。

胡帕人認(rèn)為月亮有20位妻子和眾多寵物，克虜伯說。這些寵物大多是山獅和蛇，一旦月亮沒有給它們足夠的食物，它們就攻擊月亮，致其流血。當(dāng)月亮的妻子們出面保護(hù)他，收集他的血液并幫他康復(fù)時(shí)，月食就會(huì)結(jié)束，克虜伯表示。

克虜伯說，對于加利福尼亞州南部地區(qū)的盧伊塞諾部落而言，月食是月亮生病的征兆。部落成員要唱圣歌或做禱告，以幫助月亮康復(fù)。

現(xiàn)代神話

南非貝爾維爾市西開普大學(xué)文化天文學(xué)家嘉瑞塔·霍爾布魯克去年接受采訪時(shí)稱，并非所有文化都認(rèn)為月食是不祥之兆。

“我最喜歡的月食神話出自非洲多哥和貝寧的巴坦馬利巴族。”她說。在這個(gè)神話故事中，太陽和月亮在月食期間相互打斗，人們則呼吁它們停手?！八麄儼言率晨醋魇且粋€(gè)大家聚在一起解決舊仇宿怨的時(shí)機(jī)，”霍爾布魯克說，“這個(gè)神話一直保留至今?！?/p>

1. Inca： 印加人，南美洲古代印第安人

2. jaguar [?d??ɡju?（r）] n. 美洲豹

3. assault [??s??lt] n. 猛攻；強(qiáng)攻

4. rusty [?r?sti] adj. 紅褐色的

5. crash [kr??] vi. 嘩啦啦地猛沖直闖

6. spear [sp??（r）] n. 矛

7. Mesopotamian： 美索不達(dá)米亞人。美索不達(dá)米亞是古希臘人對兩河流域的稱謂，意為“（兩條）河流之間的地方”，這兩條河指的是幼發(fā)拉底河和底格里斯河。在兩河之間的美索不達(dá)米亞平原上產(chǎn)生和發(fā)展的古文明被稱為兩河文明或美索不達(dá)米亞文明，大體位于現(xiàn)今的伊拉克，其存在時(shí)間從公元前6000年到公元前1世紀(jì)，是人類最早的文明之一。

8. assailant [??se?l?nt] n. 襲擊者；攻擊者

9. install [?n?st??l] vt. 正式任命；任用

10. surrogate [?s?r?ɡ?t] n. 代替者

11. bear the brunt： 首當(dāng)其沖。brunt [br?nt] n. （……的）壓力，沖力

12. expendable [?k?spend?bl] adj. [正式] （人）可犧牲的；可拋棄的

13. masquerade [?m?sk??re?d] vi. 化裝；裝扮成；冒充

14. dispatch [d??sp?t?] vt. [舊]處決；殺死

15. chant [t?ɑ?nt] n. 單調(diào)的圣歌；單調(diào)的祈禱文

16. feud [fju?d] n. 世仇；積怨endprint