I’m taking a break this week from my usual Climate Movement Monday post to instead focus on the solar eclipse. To be clear, I made exactly zero plans to see the eclipse and don’t have much to share on a personal level. In fact, Zippy, Emma, and I were out on the open space trails when I thought to ask Zippy if we’d get home in time to use our colander during the partial (65%) eclipse in our region of Colorado.

Nope.

Turns out, it was already 12:48 our time (peak eclipse was at 12:40) and while the light had a strange cast to it, we couldn’t really see much cool stuff in the shadows. I checked out a thistle to see if it made crescent shadows . . . nope.  Zippy pointed out that the shadows cast by our fingers had kinda fuzzy edges, but that was the extent of our eclipse experience.

But this morning I’d come across an article from Erin Fehr in Native News Online: Centuries of Indigenous Knowledge Found Along the Path of the Total Solar Eclipse that contains some very cool stories such as the Cherokees’ story of a giant frog that swallows the sun and the Choctaws’ story of a black squirrel that tries to eat the sun. I highly recommend reading the entire piece but want to highlight a couple excerpts:

Solar eclipses have also been central to historic events, like the birth of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. On August 22, 1142, a solar eclipse occurred near modern-day Victor, New York, where the Five Nations were meeting to form the Confederacy and end the strife among their Nations. Oral history suggests that the fifth nation, the Onondagas, were the last hold-outs, but the total solar eclipse convinced them to join in bringing peace to the region.

Reading that, I couldn’t help wishing that we still lived in a time in which celestial events could inspire collaboration and peace among humans. And then Fehr goes onto share this information:

Tenskwatawa Courtesy (Courtesy of National Portrait Gallery)

In 1806, Tenskwatawa, also known as The Shawnee Prophet, was in conflict with then-Governor of Territorial Indiana William Henry Harrison, who later became the 9th President of the United States. Harrison was upset by the call for tribal unity in the region, fearing that a united front would be harder to overcome [emphasis mine]. He challenged Tenskwatawa to prove himself.

“If he is really a prophet, ask him to cause the sun to stand still, the moon to alter its course, the rivers to cease to flow, or the dead to rise from their graves. If he does these things, you may believe that he has been sent from God.” 

In response, Tenskwatawa predicted an eclipse of the sun in 50 days. 50 days later on June 16, 1806, a total solar eclipse hid the sun across parts of Indiana, solidifying his position of authority. 

The article doesn’t say whether Harrison quit trying to foment dissension as a result of that prediction, but reading that excerpt made me wish–again– that this solar eclipse had the power to convince our so-called leaders to quit their violent, colonizing ways.

Anyway, I’m glad I found and read that interesting article. Did you have a solar eclipse experience today? 

Edited to add: stunning eclipse photo and plea from Climate Defiance to JUST LOOK UP and join the climate struggle.