Enjoying a Solar Eclipse on the Baltic Sea Coast

There was a crowd of us gathered, some already drunk, others pacing themselves slowly. It was still some way off, and we didn’t want to peak too early. The blankets were helping keep the sand from our clothing, and we sipped wine and nibbled on cheese as we waited. The Rügen hotel (Rügen Hotel) we all were staying at was just behind us, so we didn’t have too far to go afterwards. As we sat, we talked to those around us. The excitement began to mount and the time slowly approached. None of us had ever seen a solar eclipse, much less a total eclipse, and we had booked this holiday as we’d apparently have a great view of the sun being shadowed by the moon.

Eventually, the sun appeared to be eaten by a small mouse, as the edge became distorted and blackened by the moon encroaching on it. In some patches of the crowd, the noise level increased while in others it was the opposite, as people hushed expectantly. Gradually, the black spot grew in size and we could all notice the light disappearing. It was daytime, yet here we were sitting on the beach, and it felt like dusk. We half expected mosquitoes or sandflies to arrive and carry us away, and waited for cool night air that never came.

Eventually the whole crowd was quiet, and it added to the eerie feel of daytime darkness. I realised how ancient people must have felt hundreds and thousands of years ago, when the sky turned black in the middle of the day. Did they think they’d done something wrong, to upset the Gods? What did they do to set themselves right again? Then there were the more enlightened races, who kept accurate records of celestial events, which help us to this day understand the turning of the heavens.
What myths did these people have surrounding the event? Was there an ancient dragon that swallowed the sun? Did the Chinese have it right, beating drums during an eclipse to make the dragon cough up the sun and run away? It surely would have been the opposite of what we had today, complete silence awaiting complete darkness as the sun disappears.
Do expectant mothers in parts of the world still avoid going out during an eclipse to avoid having a baby with a cleft lip or blindness? Do you really have to throw out any foodstuffs, as it will go off?

As we sat there watching the total eclipse, all of us were silent in our own thoughts. My thoughts eventually turned to my home, a Baltic Sea apartment (Ferienwohnung Ostsee) with everything I called mine scattered haphazardly around it. Watching the tiny moon block out the light from the sun, which is 400 times its diameter, put everything in perspective. We are but teeny blips on Earth, living out our lives in slightly larger blocks, making up blobs larger again to form cities on clumped land masses to make up the world. The sun would swallow Earth 1.3 million times, and the moon is only 25% the size of Earth. I suddenly felt very, very small.