Solar Eclipse Myth Alive & Well - Page 2

#31 (**permalink**) 09-March-2007, 02:28 AM

This belief is strong in hispanic communites. In my region of Texas, we only use the safety pin to fasten a key, because according to those who believe this, the key is what protects the fetus from harm. When my mother was pregnant with me, there was en eclipse (not sure whether full or partial) but when I was born, I came out fine (and my mother will swear it was because she wore the key) and there were several babies who were born with a cleft lip. My mother and grandmother will use this as irrefutable evidence that a key should be worn during an eclipse, especially since multiple babies had the same problem. I just dismiss it as craziness, kinda like the "mal de ojo" sickness a baby gets. Anyone ever heard of that? It involves rubbing an egg on a feverish baby....Hopefully these crazy beliefs will fade out with time and science class.

pulsarX · #32 (**permalink**) 28-March-2007, 12:37 PM

In India this belief is very prevalent. Safety pins ain't used though,

Occam · #33 (**permalink**) 29-March-2007, 12:16 AM

Some beliefs are hard to shake. The Chinese habit of loudly banging gongs and drums during solar eclipses is one. The reasoning is hard to argue with.
An eclipse is caused by a dragon trying to swallow the sun.
The gongs and drums frighten the dragon into releasing the sun.
Any argument against this idea can be countered by the reasoning that it ALWAYS works.

Comets are harbingers of evil. It's an incontrovertible fact that whenever a comet has appeared in the skies, terrible things have happened.
This would only be significant, of course, if terrible things did NOT happen in the absence of comets.

Noclevername · #34 (**permalink**) 19-April-2007, 05:15 AM

This rock keeps away tigers!

It must work, there's never been a tiger around here...

BigDon · #35 (**permalink**) 19-April-2007, 05:20 PM

Well, its still better than the quaint Nigerian custom of putting a woman to death for bearing twins. (The twins gotta go too BTW) A friend of mine who was a headmistress at a all girls school in Lagos always came back to the states to give birth for just that reason. The citizenship issue was secondary.

Peter Wilson · #36 (**permalink**) 19-April-2007, 07:44 PM

I keep hearing about Nigerian widows who leave behind $26,000,000 in unclaimed bank accounts.

Can't help but wonder if the twin-thing is just a ruse to go after their money?

BigDon · #37 (**permalink**) 19-April-2007, 11:25 PM

Naaww, its the obvious logic of "One soul per conception" bit. That means one of the twins is souless and therefore an abomination. Jeez Pete, smart guy like you should have seen that.

Peter Wilson · #38 (**permalink**) 20-April-2007, 12:13 AM

So you have to kill both, to make sure you get the one that is the abomination?

BigDon · #39 (**permalink**) 20-April-2007, 03:23 AM

Sure!

Killing just gave birth women and new borns is much more noble and safe than allowing an abomination to survive.

zenbudda · #40 (**permalink**) 20-April-2007, 06:17 PM

another interesting myth amongst the mexican-american (and in most cases, just plain ol mexican) communities where i grew up was that if you stared at a rainbow, you'd get a sty (sp?) on your eyelid.

zenbudda · #41 (**permalink**) 20-April-2007, 06:19 PM

oh, and there's also "ojo" (pronounced o-ho with short o's). whenever you are in a house around a newborn/infant, you can't just look at the baby, you have to touch, otherwise you'll get it sick. ojo is eye in mexican. i think this is similar to the "evil eye" myth.

Peter Wilson · #42 (**permalink**) 20-April-2007, 07:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigDon

Sure!

Killing just gave birth women and new borns is much more noble and safe than allowing an abomination to survive.

I have an evil-twin brother (people mistake us all the time)--well I call him that, anyway (heh-heh).

But how do I know which one of us is the good one and which the bad?

Edit: On 2nd thought, please don't answer that one!

HenrikOlsen · #43 (**permalink**) 20-April-2007, 08:09 PM

Which one is the guy with the gun?

BigDon · #44 (**permalink**) 21-April-2007, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zenbudda

another interesting myth amongst the mexican-american (and in most cases, just plain ol mexican) communities where i grew up was that if you stared at a rainbow, you'd get a sty (sp?) on your eyelid.

Now Budda, according to my stepfather, who was raised in rural Louisianna, stys are caused by urinating in the street.

(Had fun with that one when my oldest daughter came down with a sty a couple of weeks back.)

#45 (**permalink**) 04-September-2007, 09:46 PM

This has always been a talked about thing in a hispanic culture. I never put much interest into it until now. I am 3 months pregnant and so is my cousin. The pin wearing is more than just the lip it is also about deformaties a baby can be caused by it. Unfortunatly we had an eclipse this past Tuesday, my cousin was unaware and did not wear the safety pin. Sad to say, she lost her baby. Now am not saying it was due to the eclipse but it might have contributed to it.

01101001 · #46 (**permalink**) 04-September-2007, 10:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Unregistered

Now am not saying it was due to the eclipse but it might have contributed to it.

Wikipedia: Demon Haunted World by Carl Sagan

Let science be your candle.

#47 (**permalink**) 10-September-2007, 07:32 PM

Can any one tell me what is this safety pin and where to were it. Thanks.

Gillianren · #48 (**permalink**) 10-September-2007, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jhalak

Can any one tell me what is this safety pin and where to were it. Thanks.

Well, the "where to wear it" is "don't bother." It doesn't do anything. Logic would indicate that it's a fairly new piece of folk belief, however, since the safety pin is pretty new, historically speaking.

Glutomoto · #49 (**permalink**) 10-September-2007, 10:16 PM

This wikipedia page will tell you what the saftey pin is, and has a picture. It goes on to say there was an ancient version invented by the Mycenaeans during the 14th century B.C. But that one was lost in time until the modern reinvention in 1849.

justintree · #50 (**permalink**) 21-November-2007, 01:17 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jerry

It is really sad -

I have a 19th century sex manual (The creation of a new life.) That explains all of the things a woman should and should not do while pregnant, and all the dire consequences. Most important, was keeping thoughts pure and high-minded - for example, if you wanted the child to be an artist, you should spend much of the pregnancy studying art.

So if your child had a clef lip, or any other deformity, it was clearly the fault of the mother. Maternal twins were once thought to be proof of adultry. The guilt imposed upon mothers whenever a child is born that is less than perfect was, and still is tragic.

That said, an eclipse does present a unique gravitational/electromagnetic environment, and it would be interesting to determine if a statistical link of some kind could be established between eclipses and odd cell division. (Obviously, the likely answer is a great big NO.)

Sorry for diggin up an old post...but that sounds like it may be somewhat reasonable. We know, scientifically, that a woman's experiences can have an effect on her baby while pregnant (now I'm not agreeing with stuff like not having your craving = weird birthmarks, I'm referring to situations like emotions resulting in different chemical releases that end up affecting the little one).

Could it not be possible that a visual connection exists between baby and child? Have there been scientific studies made?

I'm not much of a biology buff, so if I'm wrong feel free to rip my previous paragraphs to shreds...(woo physics!)

Van Rijn · #51 (**permalink**) 30-November-2007, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jhalak

Can any one tell me what is this safety pin and where to were it. Thanks.

Just noticed this. It's probably too late (I doubt you're still on the forum) but if you are, could you tell me: Are you taking this safety pin thing seriously, and if so, why?