Ancient explanations for natural phenomena
When it comes to a basic understanding of things like time and astronomy, human beings (with some notable exceptions) are pretty enlightened. Of course, there are far too many people who like to pretend that the earth does not get hotter, but it is willful ignorance, not real ignorance. When you start hearing people say that the earth is not warming because there is a supernatural ice creature old life on the moon that cools the earth with its icy breath and has been doing since the beginning of time and therefore the climate will never change, Well, it's when it's time to really start feeling scared for the future of the human race.
Today, we have irrefutable scientific explanations for natural phenomena such as eclipses, comets and hurricanes. And all that scientific evidence has settled questions about why the earth sometimes shakes and what causes massive coastal storms. But the ancient peoples did not have data and white coats and other things that make science irrefutable, so they had to find their own explanations.
1 This giant hot gas ball is super-tasty
Today, a solar eclipse is the cause of celebration, state traffic jams, fake Eclipse glasses, and people ruining their eyes because they have not been warned of counterfeit eclipse glasses. In ancient times, a solar eclipse was often a portent of misfortune. According to ancient origins, the Greeks believed that bad things would follow a solar eclipse, and that was pretty tame compared to what other cultures thought.
The idea that some terrifying creature was trying to devour the sun is quite common-the ancient Chinese thought it was a dragon, while the Vietnamese were almost sure it was a giant frog. But the winner of the "who eats creature sun is more scary" contest goes to Hindu mythology, which says that during an eclipse the sun is accidentally swallowed by the decapitated head of a demon.
In other cultures, the sun was simply thought to have been stolen, usually by mishandled canines. The Koreans thought they were supernatural dogs, and the Vikings said they were wolves. The best of all legends, however, probably comes from a tribe in West Africa-in their mythology an eclipse would occur when the sun and moon had a clash, that humans alone could end if only they would all be just get along. On the other hand, if that were true, we would all be in the shadow of a permanent solar eclipse.
2 Messages from Doom
The thing about comets is that we will probably end up killing all of us, so in a way the ancient legends about them are not really that far away. Ancient origins say that the Greeks and Romans both believed that the appearance of a comet was a prophecy of a major event, whether good or bad. A comet that appeared soon after the murder of Julius Caesar would have validated the pretensions of Caesar of the deity, which had to be a kind of success for the senators who killed him.
Most of the time, however, comets were thought to be ominous comet-comets appeared before Charlemagne's death in 814, before the conquest of England in 1066, and before the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 AD.
Even in modern times there are people who think comets have a supernatural significance-in 1910 a pseudo-religious group called "the sacred disciples" tried to sacrifice a virgin because they thought Halley's comet had just got them. And in 1997 there was more than one group that thought the comet Hale-Bopp had sinister, exotic motives.
All the misfortune and death attached to comets is not really factor in the part where there have been heaps of historical tragedies, battles, and disasters that have not been preceded by the appearance of a comet but obviously this is not really something that the ancients thought about.
3 Drama of God, punishment, etc.
The thing that fears to have many gods is that it seems like they are always fighting each other, but at least all that God's drama and unrestrained chastisement is a very good way to explain the inexplicable.
Native Hawaiians were surrounded by the inexplicable and unpredictable-they lived in one of the most volcanic places in the world, where massive eruptions were just another day in paradise. And according to the BBC, scientists can actually find evidence of ancient volcanic eruptions just by looking at Hawaiian mythology. For example, Pele, the goddess of Kilauea, set a forest on fire as an act of revenge against her sister Hi'iaka. Pele threw Hi'iaka's lover's body into Kilauea's crater, and when Hi'iaka tried to dig to dig it, she sent rocks flying in the air. Volcanologists believe that the myth tells the story of the fifteenth century eruption of Kilauea, which lasted for 60 years and finally caused the summit to collapse into a caldera.
Some people believe that the history of Atlantis could be similarly based on a real volcanic event, which might one day perhaps lead to the discovery of the lost city. It would be cool, because over the years Atlantis has kind of ballooned in as the most stupid legend ever, and it's really time for her to end up being just a pile of rubble at the bottom of an underwater volcano.
4 Ghosts that are 250 miles tall
The names "Aurora" and "Borealis" came from the Greeks, who believed that the aurora borealis was the goddess of dawn riding his chariot across the sky. Boreas, the north wind, was said to move the lights. According to the telegraph, the Sami natives of Scandinavia and parts of Russia believed that the lights came from the souls of the dead, which is terrifying because the researchers say the aurora borealis are somewhere between 50 and 250 miles in height. Instead of rushing outside to admire them, which is what modern humans do, the Samis stayed inside lest the lights take them.
Many myths about the northern lights have to do with lost souls-the people of Greenland thought the northern lights were the souls of stillborn babies. The fox tribe of North America thought the lights were the souls of their dead foes, which is really pretty terrifying when you consider that a dead foe might not have a peaceful motivation to pay a visit. Some tribes in Canada believed that the souls of their ancestors were kicking around the skull of a dead walrus, which is not as sinister as weird.
Some outliers thought the Aurora Borealis might be something other than scary souls being extra-scary-the Scots preferred to think of the lights as dancers, which is very sweet and kind of surprising from a culture who also believed in some kind of Loch Ness pony.
5 The terrifying sound of ... goats
In Norse mythology, thunder occurs when the god Thor fights black elves for possession of the reality stone. Oh wait, it's Marvel mythology. In Norse mythology, Thor walks around the sky in a cart pulled by two goats, which for a super sexy and all-powerful Thunder God looks like a totally deflated thing to do. Goats? Because stallions or dragons who breathe fire are too manly for you, God of thunder?
Anyway, according to Norse mythology, Thor walks around his chariot with his two goats called "Barer's teeth" and "grinding teeth," which is ambitious, but okay. Thus, the goats pull the chariot, and when the wheels roll across the sky, people on earth hear thunder, and when they make sparks, people see the lightning. Thor can also create lightning with his hammer, which he does a lot because he feels emasculated about the whole goat-pulled cart thing.
Not surprisingly, many other cultures also had divine explanations for thunder and lightning-the Greeks thought that lightning was a weapon of Zeus, and they often erected temples in places where lightning struck, especially so that they can ask the gods to please stop hitting them with lightning.
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6 Dragons and / or painful losers
It's hard to believe, but once, hurricanes were not just political tools and fun challenges for graphic departments in major news outlets. Hurricanes have destroyed homes, lives, and sometimes even killed people. Wait, do you mean it's still happening today? Jeez.
Anyway, back in the dark times, before the massive animation budgets at major news outlets, when huge terrifying storms descended without warning on the coastal populations, it was easy to imagine that there must be a supernatural force behind all destruction. According to ancient pages, the Chinese believed that hurricanes were caused by ferocious dragon kings who lived under the sea in palaces made from crystal. The hurricanes happened when the dragon kings violated the surface of the water and flew through the air.
The Greeks had ideas about hurricanes, too, because the Greeks had ideas about everything. In Greece, vast coastal storms were called cyclones, and they were caused by God Poseidon, who cursed the city of Athens after losing a witty battle against the goddess Athena. So, the power of the girl Yay, curse hurricane boo. Older Greek mythology has another hurricane myth-some stories say that Zeus had some pals called the Hekatonkheires who had 50 heads and 100 hands, and they could use their ridiculous number of appendages to slam the water around and whip up a hurricane. Ouch.
7 A heavenly celebration
Human beings have actually walked on the moon, but beliefs about the cosmic influence of our celestial neighbor are remarkably persistent. Just ask any kindergarten teacher with a classroom filled with riot children on a full moon. In fact, the word "whimsical" comes from the Latin "Luna" for the moon because of the once-widespread belief that fools come out during these few fully brightened nights of the month. But most modern people on the age of, say, 8 understand the science behind waxing and the decline of the moon-in the old days, it was not so simple.
According to Divine India, in the historical Vedic religion (which was part of the basis of modern Hinduism), the moon was one of the aspects of Soma, which you may remember from Flashback that you just had your English College course was also the name of the drug we Ed to keep the compliant population in the brave new world of Aldous Huxley. In Vedic mythology, Soma was the elixir of the gods. The moon was sometimes considered the cup where Tvastar, the guardian of Soma, kept the magic drink. The moon declined when the gods had their mystical version of a feast, and it waxed when the mug was raised.
The explanations for waxing and the decline of the moon vary a bit, but interestingly, almost no old legend seems to include riotous nursery schools. Perhaps the problem is that teachers are tired and not paid enough.
8 A pachyderm with an itch
Earthquakes are another natural phenomenon that really begs for some kind of cosmic explanation. It's really easy to imagine how ancient people might have confused the seemingly random shaking of the earth as an angry God trying to shake some sense into an unruly population.
According to Scientific American, the Japanese once believed that an eternal struggle between the Kashima God and a giant catfish named Namazu is the source of the root of an earthquake. Kashima is responsible for immobilizing Namazu with a large stone, but even the gods get sick of repetitive tasks and occasionally Kashima relaxes. When this happens, the fish shakes its huge tail, and the world receives an earthquake.
The idea that earthquakes are caused by giant animals is actually a fairly common one. In some Native American traditions, the mythical Thunderbird caused earthquakes and tidal waves whenever he disagreed with a whale. In China, the traditional explanation of an earthquake is the very precarious position of planet earth, which is wedged between a group of elephants, who are standing on the back of a turtle, which is held back by Cobra. So when one of the elephants has to scratch, or really move, the planet is shaking.
9 Something weird horse with the back of a snake
The tornadoes are so terrifying that they even spawned modern legends - there's one about the girl who was swept away in a tornado and found herself in a magical land populated by witches and flying monkeys, and There was also a legend where Bill Paxton pursues ripped adoes around for fun and adventure, which nobody remembers because this film sucked.
Anyway, the tornadoes are scary, and if you've ever seen the destruction of one of them leaves behind, it's enough of God's anger. If old people not only need an explanation for tornadoes, they also need some sort of hope that they could be controlled or at least hijacked, because otherwise shit.
According to NPR, the Kiowa tribe in Oklahoma estimated that the tornadoes were caused by a mystical "Storm-Maker" named Red Horse. Red horse was equine in almost every way except for its tail, which was the back of a snake. When Red Horse whipped his tail, he made a tornado.
Fortunately, there were also people within the tribe who would have possessed the ability to hijack a tornado, which was handy if you were not crazy about packing an entire village on short notice because Red Horse was planning a visit. The idea that humans can influence the direction of a tornado persists even in some communities today.
10 Shapeshifting ground shakers
Tornadoes are scary, and so are earthquakes and hurricanes and volcanoes, but if you want to talk uber, ultra scary, then a 1,720-foot tsunami is about as bad as it gets.
Like native Hawaiians, the ancient peoples of the northwestern United States lived under the constant threat of natural disaster, only their supernatural fanned the waves instead of the mountain. And evidence of past events can be found in their verbal stories, too.
According to Forbes, Duwamish Legends say there are rocks along the shores of Puget Sound that are haunted by terrifying metamorphs. Anyone hoping to approach the rocks knows not to do it on the coastal side, because angry spirits will shake the ground and whip huge waves to punish the unfortunate intruder. The researchers were able to identify the source of some of these rocks, a prehistoric landslide that may have been associated with a major earthquake and tsunami event. It makes sense that these sites ended up with terrifying legends attached to them. First, legends warned people about tsunamis, and secondly, mobile rocks only kind of scream for a supernatural explanation.
These stories are also echoed in other tsunami-prone areas, but the main common denominator is the question of what to do in the event of a tsunami. "When the sea disappears," warn the old stories of Thailand, "do not look back, but run as fast as you can to the next hill."
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