2 The Dog from the Sky

With all our current advanced technology, various scientific discoveries have been made and many mysterious occurrences can now be explained using scientific evidence. Nowadays, we all know how the solar and lunar eclipses occur. However, back in the old days, there was no way people could understand this. When a total or a near-total solar eclipse happens, the sky darkens in the daytime. Centuries ago, people were frightened by this darkening of the sky. In order to ease people's worries and ease their fears, the Chinese came up with a story that explained the occurrence of eclipses.

The ancient Chinese believed that a lunar eclipse was the result of a dog from the sky eating the moon. But why would the dog eat the moon? There was a couple from the tribe of Lisu; the husband was called Gelishi, the wife was called Dumawu, and together they raised a dog. Every night, the couple spent time together dancing and enjoying themselves under the moonlight. Gradually, Gelishi developed a huge interest in the moon, and he started to wonder what exactly the moon was. Even after observing the moon for a long time and thinking hard, he still could not get a satisfactory answer. So he decided to use bamboo as a ladder to the sky, so that he could take a closer look at the moon and find out exactly what it was.

Before starting his journey, Gelishi said to his wife, “Dumawu,after I'm gone, please remember, water the bamboo to keep it alive and maintain its growth. If the bamboo withers and dies, I will fall from the sky.” With tears in her eyes, hoping that he would stay, she begged him, “I'm about to give birth to our baby, please don't go.”He comforted her, “Don't worry, I will be back very soon! ”

Gelishi took the dog with him and they started climbing up the ladder. On and on they went, and there were no signs of their return. Dumawu kept watering the bamboo, until she was about to give birth to her baby. At that time, she was in extreme pain and was so weak that she could not even leave her bed. Consequently, the bamboo withered. At this very moment, Gelishi and the dog were just about to reach the moon, so the dog made a final leap and landed on the moon, while he stretched out his arms to grab onto the moon. All of a sudden, there was a very loud noise, the ladder had snapped into pieces, and he fell from the sky.

Since the ladder was gone, the dog could never return to earth. There was no food on the moon, so when the dog was hungry, it could only eat the moon. Whenever there is a lunar eclipse ancient Chinese believed it was the dog eating the moon. The Lisu people feared that the dog would one day eat the whole moon, so they prepared pigs and lambs as sacrifices when they noticed that part of the moon was disappearing, in the hope that the dog would not eat the whole moon. A similar story evolved for solar eclipses. The ancient Chinese would play musical instruments or make loud noises to frighten the dog from “eating the sun”, all the while praying to their Gods for protection.

A Lunar Eclipse