Solar Eclipse

 Today on 22nd July, a total solar eclipse occured which was visible from parts of Asia like India and Bhutan and China.

It occured at 6.55 am and the total eclipse lasted for about 4 minutes in Bhutan. Tourists from all over the world had come to Bhutan specially to see the eclipse from the lofty mountain tops. Some of the schools were closed due to the eclipse which is of significant religious importance in Bhutan.

All over Bhutan, many prayer ceremonies were performed, thousands of butter lamps lit and monks and nuns and lay people all chanted prayers. People here believe that a solar or lunar eclipse occurs when some mysterious creature begins to eat the sun or moon and in addition to chanting prayers, people also beat drums and blow horns and cry out "Let go, let go" to the mysterious creature who is slowly eating the sun or moon. Then they believe their cries and prayers release the sun or moon as the creature gets distracted.

As a child, it sounded quite scary but today we know the explanation behind such a phenomena. Still, when the day lights got dimmer and dimmer and at one  point when day turned into night, it was quite strange and i got a weird feeling of doom. Thank fully it didn't last long.

Inspite of warnings not to look at the sun and specially look through a camera lens, i attempted to take a photo but of course it didn't come out good as the sky was cloudy and also my camera is not equipped to take that kind of shots.