Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1901-03-05
ODD MOON THEORIES.
THE MANY SUGGESTIONS THAT
FLOURISH ABOUT FAIR LUNA.

EcIipses of tne Orb of Night.
For countless ages the darkness of
night has exercised terror on all sorts
and conditions of men, and in conse-
quence the moon has become surround
ed by untutored people with a degree
of mystery tha{ is sometimes merely
laughable, sometimes ingeniously alb
surd, but in most cases the natural out
come of superstition and ignorance.
There is probably no country in the
world where some kind of picture has
not been made out of the visible mark
ings on the moons surface. We have
our own old man in the moon who
made that famous journey to Norwich,
while in many parts of France it is
hunter and his dog that folks say they
can distinguish.
In eastern Asia the marks in the
moon are said to be a hare sitting on
its headquarters. while the Incas of
South America maintain that the dark
patch is the figure of young lady who
happened to be walking in the moon
light and suddenly became enamored
of the brightness and beauty of a star
She sprang forward to embrace the OBJ
ject of her affection, and the moon,
taking advantage of her amorous leap,
caught her up and has kept her ever
since
Eclipses of the moon, being common
er than those of the sun, have always
attracted more attention than solar
obfuscations. In Peru an eclipse of
the moon was always considered to be
a sudden illness of that star, and so
when one occurred the Peruvians
would start treating everything that
was capable of making a noise and in
particular fog all their dogs, the theory
being that the moon, witnessing the
Sufferings of the creatures it loved,
would revive herself to come to their
help.
The Khasias of northeast India have
very remarkable superstition regard
ing the sun and moon. They believe
that the waning and increasing moon
represents the state of that planets
strength as she wrestles with the sun,
which is her husband.
The increasing moon represents that
Luna is winning "hands down." the
decrease that she is losing, until at last
the sun swallows his wife and spits
her head out into the sky. The wife
then has another chance, so to speak,
and the quarrel goes on without cessa-
ton.
A popular superstition among the
Slavs was that the moon was condemn
ed to wander through space for inf
deity in company with the morning
star The Dakota Indians fancied that
the moon as she decreased was being
slowly nibbleI away by mice, the
Polynesians that she was being de-
voured by spirits of the dead.
Still more extraordinary is the super
stition held by the Hottentots that the
waning moon suffers from headache
and always hides her face with her
hands.
The ESkimos maintain that the same
period in the moons history merely be-
tokens the fact that she is hungry and
retiring to rest and eat previous to be-
ginning another fast. AS regards the
markings ON the moon the Eskimos
have a most laughable theory. They
say that Anninga, the moon, brother of
the peerless and Incompatible Malnia,
the sun, was pursuing his sister and in
deed had drawn so close to her that
she was almost within his grasp,
whereupon the enraged lady turned
around and blackened his face and
clothes with her fingers, which she had
smutted with the SCOT of an oil lamp.
Other savages there are who main
tain that the marks are the cinders re-
sulting from the monthly destruction
by fire of the moon by the incendiary
sun.
The Chinese believe that when an
eclipse of the moon takes place she is
being vigorously attacked by a dragon.
At the commencement of the lunar
phenomenon they throw themselves
PROSTATE and bang on gongs and
drums to brighten the dragon away. In
the meanwhile the mandarins and eX-
allied personages present shoot arrows
at the moon, which reminds one of
the story of a former king of Portugal,
who, hearing that a comet was in
sight. hurried out to see it, scolded it
vehemently and discharged pistol
shots at the inexplicable monstrosity.
The Maoris believed that the moon
was a great hole torn in the heavens
through which could be seen the warm
fires that kept the earth alive and the
sun heated. When the moon was on
the wane, they said that the gods were
busy mending the rent, and when the
moon appeared again in her crescent
shape they said that the tear had burst
once more.
Among the UntutOred peasants of the
remote parts of France many strange
superstitions are rife as regards the
moon. Many aver that they can see
Judas Iscariot hanging from an elder
branch, others that it is Cain they see
leaning on his spade and gazing at the
murdered body of Abel while some
again say that it is a peasant compel
led to freeze in the moon with his bun
die of faggots for attempting to waffle
a fence on the Sabbath.
At certain times of the year the Malo-
pos, tribe of African savages, bury
live goat with many strange rites.
This, they say, has to be done to ap-
pease the moon, who expects a goat at
stated intervals. They firmly believe
that the goat makes its way through
the center of the earth and falls into
the moon, who is waiting to receive it.
London Answers.
Beguiling Childhood.
When my little son could scarcely