In the year 1638 there was a total lunar eclipse that occurred at the winter solstice, aka
December 21. It took 372 years for that particular combination of events to occur again,
on the same date in 2010. I stayed up all night to experience the event. I got out the old
camera and made a little movie, but you really have to be there to get the cosmic vibe.

I am a bit of an eclipse nut. I have seen five total solar eclipses, including one in the
Atacama Desert in northern Chile. A lunar eclipse is a whole different animal than a
solar, generally far more common, and usually shrugged off. I have blown off many
lunar eclipses, but this event was extremely rare for its coinciding with the solstice (and
besides, the next solar eclipse in North America is not until 2017).

So, what’s the point? Well, first of all you can really feel the solar system moving when
you watch an eclipse. And you see the objects, sun and/or moon, literally in a different
light. A solar eclipse can induce balls-out rapture. A lunar is a more subtle, but awesome
nonetheless. You feel what you are: a small thing in a swirl of miracles. (At three am, I
sat with my wife and 3.5-year-old daughter in the car, heater blasting, sunroof open, seats
back, staring up at the cosmic wonder.)

I also like to think about what ancient or pre-modern-science people were thinking when
they witnessed these events. The moon looks red during totality, blood red. Probably
scared the hell out of them. End of the world, or a punishment of some kind. Both the
solstice and a lunar eclipse are associated with fertility: they signify a death and rebirth.
That’s a lot of fertility. Maybe more babies than usual will show up in September, 2011.
Columbus used a lunar eclipse to trick the indigenous people he found in the “Indies”
(the Europeans were better at astronomy than geography I guess). The locals thought
Columbus was some kind of God.

Experiencing an eclipse puts me in mind of the idea of God (a lot more so than reading
the Bible anyway). With the solstice, the eclipse, and Christmas, things that come from
the sky are big in the imagination. Look up: you’ve got snow, Santa Claus, Rudolph, and
that star that showed the way to the three wise men. It came upon a midnight clear. And
then there’s the angel that came down and scared the heck out of certain poor shepherds,
not unlike an eclipse. Coincidence? It’s all miracles to me. Happy New Year.

-David Warfield