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Show What Savages Think About Thunder, Tornadoes and Eclipses By Prof Karl J KarlSOIl, " Journal of Rel glout Psychology ECLIPSES had a terrifying effect upon the mind of primitive man and caused many to us peculiar stories to be Invented as an explanation of the dreadful phenom enon Thus the Chiquitas thought that the moon was hunted across the sky by a huge dog caught and torn until the blood dyed its face red In order to drive away the monster the people used to raise a frightful howl and lamentation and shoot across the sky The Caribs thought that Maboya hater of all light sought to devour the sun and the moon and therefore danced and howled in concert all day or all night to drive him away And the Peruvians Imagined an evil spirit In form of a beast eating the moon and therefore raised a fright ful din and beat the dogs to Join In the concert The same Idea Is also found on the South Sea Islands where the sun and moon are supposed to be swallowed by an offended deity but who was induced by offerings to eject them again In Sumatra the one eats the other but the inhabl tants are abje to prevent It by a tremendous noise In Hindu mythol ogy two demons Rahn and Ketu devour the sun and the moon respectively re-spectively These are also described in conformity with the phenomena Rahn Is black and Ketu is red and the usual din is raised to drive them off But as they are only heads their prey slips out as soon as swal lowed Another version of the myth says that Indra pursuing Rahn with his thunderbolt rips open his abdomen so that the heavenly body gets out again Ancient Mongols and Chinese make the same kind of clamor of rough music gongs and bells to drive off the monster And the Siamese said in regard to the Europeans Euro-peans ability to predict the time and extent of an eclipse that they knew the monster s mealtimes and could tell how hungry he would be The Romans flung firebrands into the air blew trumpets and clanged brazen pots and pans In order to save the moon And when the sol diers made a mutiny against Tiber ius their plans were frustrated by the moon which suddenly lan gulshed in the sky In vain d d they try to rescue it for clouds came up and hid it and the mutl neers saw that the gods had turned away from their plot But not only external Influences or causes were considered as affect ing an eclipse Internal causes or changes in the sun or moon them selves were also believed to bring about this phenomenon The Caribs thought that the moon was sick 4 hungry or dying The Peruvians im ' aglned the sun angry and so hid her face In total darkness to bring the a world to an end The Hurons fan cied the moon sick and arranged a rather boisterous concert In which men and dogs participated In order to hrlng about its recovery The chanees of day and night Summer and Winter Spring and Fall light and darkness heat and rold arc very closelv conne ted with the eclipse belief The one is over come by the other only to return with renewed strength to conquer the oppressor and to free and glad den the hearf of trembling hi man Itv once more-Asserting the power of light trithgfrighteousness and llfe The wlndsuiiat break the forestSf shake the rocks and penetrate manV haie also caused much wonder and speculation. Aeolus of old held the winds imprisoned in his dungeon cave and tuned his harp afte them and when the winds rustled among the leaves of the trees people heard Aeolus play his harp The Mani of New 7ealand ride upon the winds and imprison them in their caves but the west wind is too strong and too cunning for he escapes hides himself In his o n cave and dies away I In India the Maruts the storm gods assume after their wont the form of newborn babes and perform the mythical teats of the child of Hermes tossing the clouds over the surging sea Boreas born of Astraos and Eos causes the people to tremble with chills and hurry to their shelter He chases the birds from their Summer haunts to other regions and ties in asbestine bonds the soil and the waters - The Polynesian believed that the wind gods lived near the great rock which serves as a foundation for the world They held within themselves hurricanes tempests and all destruc tive winds and employed them to punish such persons as neglected their worship wherefore in stormy weather large offerings and liberal presents were brought them by pen itent devotees who were either in danger themselves or had friends in danger The four winds caused a great mythic development among the natives of America in which they are personified as four brothers or mythic ancestors or divine parents of mankinds The strong effect of thunder and lightning upon the mind of primitive man Is seen in the myths all over the world Rig Veda sings Indra s glory and ascribes to him the feats of the thunderbolt He Is also called Indra of the thunderbolt He smote Ahl and poured forth water upon the earth When he hurls his thunderbolt men believe in the bril llant god and pay him homage Twashtar made his glorious bolt The North American Indians had much to tell about the thunder bird as had the ancient Greeks of the eagle of .Zeus and the Scandinavians of the hammer of Thor The Asslnlbolns have seen this wondrous bird and the Dakotas could show his footprints the thun der tracks twenty miles apart, near the source of St Peter s River The Ahts of ancoriver talked about the m rhty bird Tootooch dwelling far off in the sky the flap of whose wings caused thunder and whose forked tongue Is seen in the lightning The Mandans heard in the thunder and saw n the 1 ehtnlng the flapping wines and flashing eyes of that aw ful bird which belongs to or even is fanitu, the Great, himself The 'Ahts say that there were originally "sejfour, of-inheseK great birds but Quawteahtthe great deity entered a whale onTwhlch they fed and en ticed one after the other to swoop down when he seized them and. plunsing into the sea, drowned them. The last of them was however too strong so he spread his wings and flow to a distant height where he still rema ns though he sometimes visits the earth. The Dakotas spoke about an old, large bird which begins the thunder and whose velocity is great He is wise anl k nd and never does any harm But the thunder is imitated and carried on bv smaller young birds which cause the rumbling noise and the duration of the peals These pre mischievous and will not listen tor good counsel and therefore do some harm besides but as a rule the Indians are not afraid of them This exDlanation of the thunder and 1 ghtnlng which is so prominent among the Indians especially of North America is found also in other places Thunder and lightning may be the messenger of the god who lives far on high and so needs a mes-en?pr mes-en?pr or else the god itself as in the F nnish poetry where he speaks through the clouds and shoots his fiery darts When it is dark in his loity abode he strikes fire and we hear the noise and call It thunder and see the sparks and call them lightning The Hindu Indra hurls the thunderbolt with his bow the rainbow Just as Uko in the Finnish saga and both smite their enemies with these arrows Closelv connected with the thunder and lightning, is the rainbow as we mi-ht expect It constitutes as we have seen, the bow of Uko and Indra Tl e Israelites called it the bow of Jahwe the Hindus the bow of Rama, snd the I apps the bow of TIermas the thunderer who slays with It the sorcerers that hunt for men Zeus stretched it down from heaven as a sJgn of war and tempest or It was Iris the messenger between gods and men that came down In Scandi nala It was a bridge for the gods to travel upon and in Germany the souls of the Just go over it to paradise para-dise I |