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Jakarta Post

Once in a blue moon

Celestial trifecta: Photos taken on Wednesday night show several phases of the Moon (clockwise, from top left) in a rare celestial phenomenon called a “super blue blood moon,” which happened for the first time in over 150 years

Andi Hajramuni, Apriadi Gunawan, Arya Dipa & Kharishar Kahfi (The Jakarta Post)
Makassar/Medan/Bandung/Jakarta
Thu, February 1, 2018

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Once in a blue moon

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span class="inline inline-center">Celestial trifecta: Photos taken on Wednesday night show several phases of the Moon (clockwise, from top left) in a rare celestial phenomenon called a “super blue blood moon,” which happened for the first time in over 150 years.

As they witnessed a rare celestial phenomenon, which last occurred 152 years ago, people in Indonesia had no problems blending science, religion and folk beliefs that have existed in local cultures for centuries.

On Wednesday evening the Sun, Earth and Moon lined up perfectly for a lunar eclipse just as the Moon was nearest its closest orbit point to Earth to create a phenomenon called a “super blue blood moon,” stargazers in many cities prepared their telescopes to witness the show as had been forecast by astronomers, and once it was over they gathered to perform religious rituals.

In Makassar, South Sulawesi, students of the Math and Natural Sciences Department of Hasanuddin University, gathered for the eclipse-gazing event at one of the college’s soccer fields starting at 6 p.m. only to take a break at 8 p.m. when the total lunar eclipse occurred to perform an Islamic ritual at a mosque run by the university.

The students joined thousands of other Muslims in the region who went to their local mosques to perform the prayer, which is considered sunnah (optional). The South Sulawesi Religious Affairs Office issued a circular calling on Muslims to perform the eclipse prayer.

In Medan, North Sumatra, Mayor Dzulmi Eldin also encouraged Muslims to gather in their neighborhoods to perform the prayer.

The caretaker of Al Ikhwan mosque in Medan, Ahmad Junaidi told The Jakarta Post that officials had given notice about the non-mandatory eclipse prayer in the previous two days.

“The eclipse is a manifestation of the power of God. Therefore, Muslims are recommended to perform the prayer as a sign of praise and gratitude toward God,” Junaidi said.

In Tapaktuan, Aceh, fishermen clung to a folk belief that barred them from going to sea while an eclipse is underway.

“The local administration in South Aceh did not specifically issue a ban, this was an instruction issued by the panglima laot [tribal leader] who urged us not to go fishing,” a representative of the Tapaktuan fishing community, Syafii Jamal, said as quoted by Antara.

Syafii said the prohibition was part of local traditions that fishermen and sailors had stuck to for centuries.

“We abided by the order, because a lunar eclipse is part of nature’s code, or a sign of things to come. Once this sign appears, we need to return to land immediately,” said Uteh, a fisherman from Lhok Bengkuang.

Folklore in the country’s many traditional cultures states that solar or lunar eclipses involve mythical figures eating the Sun or the Moon and that rituals are needed to banish the creature.

Balinese mythology often connects an eclipse with the saga of the Kala Rau demon, who abducts the goddess Ratih in revenge for her not letting the demon drink water from a holy spring. Javanese folklore, meanwhile, holds that a total lunar eclipse is a precursor to a natural disaster and that the bad luck can be neutralized by constantly beating rice mortars during the eclipse.

In Kartasura, Central Java, locals carried on the rice mortar-beating tradition as the eclipse reached its peak on Wednesday night.

“This has been done for generations, on top of performing the [Islamic] prayer,” local elder Hernowo said.

The scientific community meanwhile capitalized on the rare celestial show to introduce astronomy to the public.

The National Institute of Aeronautics and Space (Lapan) headquarters in Bandung, West Java, welcomed on Wednesday hundreds of curious stargazers looking forward to witnessing the celestial show.

“We provided two telescopes, binoculars and assigned four of our scientists to explain about the science. We also took a high-resolution video that we projected onto a screen,” Lapan researcher Muhammad Zamzami said.

For some, the rare lunar eclipse served as a romantic backdrop.

Adam Kurnia, 20, and Anisa Novitasari, 18, said they decided to go to Kota Tua in West Jakarta to witness the eclipse so that their first date would be the most memorable moment in their lives.

The lovebirds appeared to have also done their homework.

“We read some stuff on the internet this afternoon, so we’re not completely clueless about the eclipse,” Anisa said. (dpk)

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