Lunar Eclipse
In this forgotten place, where people started celebrating the lunar eclipse, the moon was the only one that had managed to make her way down from the sky on her blue bicycle and visit the town.
- Man with the Panama Hat from A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings adapted by Nilo Cruz
The moon has traditionally been the centerpiece for festivals in virtually all of the world’s cultures. Most notably, the full moon is associated with harvest festivals, from the Chinese Harvest Moon Festival to the Jewish Sukkoth, the Yoruba Yam Festival to our own American harvest celebration, Thanksgiving.
The harvest moon in the autumn is the largest and brightest it gets all the year round. It also takes on a slightly rose color, reflecting the voluptuous nature of the yield. Every culture assigns great power to the moon in instances like this. In Swaziland , astrologers work months in advance to determine the appropriate time for their Incwala festival. The moon is the divine indicator of the harvest and thus has power to allow disaster or provide security.
The lunar eclipse has always had a sense of mysticism to it. Indians (of India) believed that when the moon disappeared, it had been swallowed by a serpent or monster. The Chinese, Moors, Finns, and Lithuanians all ascribe the occurrence to a malevolent dragon. In the absence of so powerful a force as the moon, emotional eruption can occur. Accounts from remote areas of China and West Africa portray whole villages entering a state of collective dementia while the moon was eclipsed.
In 1504, while settled on Jamaica , Christopher Columbus terrified the natives by predicting a lunar eclipse. After that, there was little doubt in anyone’s mind that he was a god!
In the play, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings adapted by Nilo Cruz, strange things start to happen during the lunar eclipse. See if you can identify the elements associated with this event and with the use of Magical Realism.