Did you have the "eclipse" connection?

Did you know that the word "eclipse" is written the same in Irish, Spanish, French, Galician, Basque, Portuguese, and Welsch? There now you're multilingual...ha ha ha! I'm only writing that because I'm so exhausted, I'm dog-tired and discombobulated!

So today we got to experience the obscuring of the light, from the Sun, by the Moon. If you were lucky enough to watch it happen some where around 2:30PM Eastern, then I joined you here in Georgia. I talked to a few people right afterwards and many were tired, lethargic. Many people in South America believe you shouldn't make decisions during an eclipse, because your feelings are not trustworthy at that time. Hmmm...wish someone would of told me that earlier, then maybe I could have been sent home. Just to be sure I didn't make bad decisions.

Many cultures view the disappearance of the moon as a time of danger and chaos.The Inca believed the moon was being attacked by a jaguar. They feared that after it attacked the moon, the jaguar would crash to Earth to eat people. To prevent that, they would try to drive the jaguar away by shaking spears at the moon and making a lot of noise, including beating their dogs to make them howl and bark.

The Hupa, a Native American tribe in California, believed the moon had 20 wives and a lot of pets. 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.

The people in Togo and Benin in Africa also have a myth. It's about the sun and the moon fighting during an eclipse, and the people encourage them to stop. It's viewed as a time of coming together and resolving old feuds and anger.

Did you know the Aztec people believed in a myth that says if you're pregnant and you give birth during an eclipse, the baby will be born with abnormalities?

I heard that you will go blind if you look directly into the eclipse, but I've also heard that this is also a myth. Many people who spent a long time looking at the eclipse, even with the NASA certified glasses reported severe headaches, but I thought...I'd get a headache looking at the Sun too.

There were reports of sensor lights being activated, dogs whimpering, chickens roosting, and just a whole lot of emotional havoc.

I'm not certain if my fatigue is due to the eclipse or not, perhaps it has to do more with worrying about children not taking of those glasses and becoming blind or working with colleagues to keep children's excitement contained and directing silence during the viewing. I'm sure there had to be over 200 children on our section.

Regardless, I hope you made some type of connection with the eclipse, either by your own experience or by your culture's beliefs. You won't see another one any time soon.