We stay in a light-polluted world, the place streetlamps, digital advertisements and even yard lighting block out all however the brightest celestial objects within the evening sky. However journey to an formally protected “Darkish Sky” space, gaze skyward and be amazed.
That is the view of the heavens individuals had for millennia. Pre-modern societies watched the sky and created cosmographies, maps of the skies that supplied info for calendars and agricultural cycles. Additionally they created cosmologies, which, within the unique use of the phrase, have been non secular beliefs to elucidate the universe. The gods and the heavens have been inseparable.
The skies are orderly and cyclical in nature, so watch and document lengthy sufficient and you’ll decide their rhythms. Many societies have been capable of precisely predict lunar eclipses, and a few may additionally predict photo voltaic eclipses – just like the one that may happen over North America on April 8, 2024.
The trail of totality, the place the Moon will solely block the Solar, will cross into Mexico on the Pacific coast earlier than getting into america in Texas, the place I educate the historical past of expertise and science, and will likely be seen as a partial eclipse throughout the lands of the traditional Maya. This follows the October 2023 annular eclipse, when it was doable to look at the “ring of fireplace” across the Solar from many historical Maya ruins and elements of Texas.
A millennia in the past, two such photo voltaic eclipses over the identical space inside six months would have seen Maya astronomers, clergymen and rulers leap right into a frenzy of exercise. I’ve seen the same frenzy – albeit for various causes – right here within the Dallas-Fort Price space, the place we will likely be within the path of totality. Throughout this era between the 2 eclipses, I’ve felt privileged to share my curiosity within the historical past of astronomy with college students and the neighborhood.
Historic astronomers
The traditional Maya have been arguably one of many best sky-watching societies. Achieved mathematicians, they recorded systematic observations on the movement of the Solar, planets and stars.
From these observations, they created a posh calendar system to manage their world – some of the correct of pre-modern occasions.
Astronomers intently noticed the Solar and aligned monumental buildings, similar to pyramids, to trace solstices and equinoxes. Additionally they utilized these buildings, in addition to caves and wells, to mark the zenith days – the 2 occasions a yr within the tropics the place the Solar is straight overhead and vertical objects forged no shadow.
Maya “Underworld” Observatory Revealed | Nationwide Geographic.
Maya scribes stored accounts of the astronomical observations in codices, hieroglyphic folding books made out of fig bark paper. The Dresden Codex, one of many 4 remaining historical Maya texts, dates to the eleventh century. Its pages comprise a wealth of astronomical information and non secular interpretations and supply proof that the Maya may predict photo voltaic eclipses.
From the codex’s astronomical tables, researchers know that the Maya tracked the lunar nodes, the 2 factors the place the orbit of the Moon intersects with the ecliptic – the aircraft of the Earth’s orbit across the Solar, which from our perspective is the trail of the Solar by way of our sky. Additionally they created tables divided into the 177-day photo voltaic eclipse seasons, marking days the place eclipses have been doable.
Heavenly battle
However why make investments a lot in monitoring the skies?
Information is energy. Should you stored accounts of what occurred on the time of sure celestial occasions, you possibly can be forewarned and take correct precautions when cycles repeated themselves. Monks and rulers would know methods to act, which rituals to carry out and which sacrifices to make to the gods to ensure that the cycles of destruction, rebirth and renewal continued.
Eclipse panels within the Dresden Codex.
Saxon State College and Library – Dresden
Within the Maya’s perception system, sunsets have been related to demise and decay. Each night the solar god, Kinich Ahau, made the perilous journey by way of Xibalba, the Maya underworld, to be born anew at dawn. Photo voltaic eclipses have been seen as a “damaged solar” – an indication of doable cataclysmic destruction.
Kinich Ahau was related to prosperity and good order. His brother Chak Ek – the morning star, which we now know because the planet Venus – was related to battle and discord. They’d an adversarial relationship, preventing for supremacy.
Their battle may very well be witnessed within the heavens. Throughout photo voltaic eclipses, planets, stars and typically comets will be seen throughout totality. If positioned correctly, Venus will shine brightly close to the eclipsed Solar, which the Maya interpreted as Chak Ek on the assault. That is hinted at within the Dresden Codex, the place a diving Venus god seems within the photo voltaic eclipse tables, and within the coordination of photo voltaic eclipses with the Venus cycles within the Madrid Codex, one other Maya folding e book from the late fifteenth century.
An illustration from the Dresden Codex exhibits the Venus god descending from a sky band containing photo voltaic and lunar symbols.
Saxon State and College Library – Dresden
With Kinich Ahau – the Solar – hidden behind the Moon, the Maya believed he was dying. Renewal rituals have been crucial to revive steadiness and set him again on his correct course.
The Aristocracy, particularly the king, would carry out bloodletting sacrifices, piercing their our bodies and accumulating the blood drops to burn as choices to the solar god. This “blood of kings” was the best type of sacrifice, meant to strengthen Kinich Ahau. Maya believed the creator gods had given their blood and blended it with maize dough to create the primary people. In flip, the the Aristocracy gave a small portion of their very own life pressure to nourish the gods.
Time stands nonetheless
Within the lead-up to April’s eclipse, I really feel as if I’m finishing a private cycle of my very own, bringing me again to earlier profession paths: first as an aerospace engineer who liked her orbital mechanics courses and loved yard astronomy; after which as a historical past doctoral scholar, finding out how Maya tradition persevered after the Spanish conquest.
A picture of the Maya solar god Kinich Ahau, made between the sixth and ninth centuries, now housed in Mexico’s Nationwide Museum of Anthropology.
DeAgostini/Getty Photos
For me, identical to the traditional Maya, the entire photo voltaic eclipse will likely be an opportunity to not solely lookup but additionally to think about each previous and future. Viewing the eclipse is one thing our ancestors have executed since time immemorial and can do far into the long run. It’s superior within the unique sense of the phrase: For just a few moments it appears as if time each stops, as all eyes flip skyward, and converges, as we participate in the identical spectacle as our ancestors and descendants.
And whether or not you imagine in divine messages, battles between Venus and the Solar, or in the great thing about science and the pure world, this occasion brings individuals collectively. It’s humbling, and it is usually very, very cool.
I simply hope that Kinich Ahau will grace us along with his presence in a cloudless sky and as soon as once more vanquish Venus, which is a morning star on April 8.