About Eclipses
During a Solar Eclipse, the moon blocks the sun from shining on part of the Earth. During a Lunar Eclipse, the sunlight that illuminates the full moon is blocked by the Earth
Ancient Hawaiians believed that an eclipse foreshadowed the death of a chief or of an upcoming war. Because they occurred so rarely, eclipses did not have much of an influence on Hawaiian history or hula.
A Total Eclipse occurred on August 7, 1850, in Honolulu , Hawaii.
On July 11, 1991, at 7:28 A.M. in Kailua Kona, I witnessed:
Moon Shadow: A Chicken Skin Adventure
I had read about this future event two years earlier. Getting airline reservations for my sister Rose and I six months before the scheduled "happening" was wise, and if I could have gotten them earlier than that I would have done so. But it was impossible to make accomodations a year in advance, or so the ticket agent told me. As days went by, all flights on any airlines to the Big Island for the week of the Eclipse were booked solid. Hawaiian Airlines arranged for a special flight to Kailua Kona a few days before Totality, but even then, there was a mad rush for seats and the flight was booked in a couple of days. Lucky Us! Rose and I flew from Honolulu, to Hilo, and finally arrived in Kailua Kona on the morning of July 10th, one day before the special event. We had thought to see the airport crowded with people , and had our master plan all worked out on how we were going to get to town. We were going to WALK if we had to! Amazingly enough it wasn't bad at all. There were no rental cars available, but getting a cab was no problem and soon we were in Kailua Kona. The next day, at 4:00 am, I looked out the door of my nephew's house . It was raining! Oh well, I thought..if I see Totality, good....if not....it was just never meant to be! Soon enough we were ready to GO!
Rose and I got in the car and then I remembered.....THE BINOCULARS!.... I ran to get them leaving Rose sighing in the driver's seat. We drove to the town..it was STILL RAINING! Lets go get coffee, I said (I don't drink the stuff but it was cold so...) Rose was all for driving to Waikaloa to follow the tour buses and carloads of people who were all driving that way. Because of the rain, and cloudy conditions, the radio was advising people that Waikaloa was the best place to view the Eclipse. Lets just stay here, I said. If we see it we see it, and if we don't we don't...and that's all there was to it! I really didn't want us to be driving in that gridlock. Besides I wanted breakfast! It wasn't too hard to talk Rose into staying right where we were, so we parked the car by the shopping center and walked to the church.
We sat on the sea wall there but couldn't see the sky, for the coconut trees that were in the way, so we walked to the King Kam Hotel, which was a block away. It was a pleasant walk along the sea wall. We got our coffee, and found a place to sit on the pier, to watch the sky through our sun peeps. There must have been about a hundred people there on the pier that morning. Finally, the moment came! Sunrise!..Surprise!...Big cloud in the sky, obscuring the sun! Oh no...everybody was moaning! And groaning!...Suddenly...the cloud disappeared and we saw that the sun was being covered by a shadow............ MOONSHADOW!..............
Daylight was waning. The birds were flying in from the sea and roosting in the trees, thinking night was falling! I'm sure they were very confused! Everybody was quiet, a hush fell over us. Now even the birds were silent. I looked around me and saw that the street lights were on. Everybody was facing the heavens...........there were stars in the sky, and then.........
Looking at the sun I saw the last rays of light dribble off its surface like tears. These were "Bailey's Beads"! Through binoculars, "hot pink" gasses were exploding upwards.
I took off the binoculars to get the full effects of the Corona. I would never see this again, never ,ever in my lifetime! It is hard to describe what I felt at that moment. There was an eerie silence and a cold shivery feeling, which came not from the cold wind which had sprung out of nowhere, but more from the majesty of the moment.Stars were shining. It was a scene from a Salvadore Dali masterpiece. After four minutes of darkness, there was the "diamond ring" effect. The moon's shadow was lifting. Someone shouted"Hana Hou"! (Again!) It was pau. (Finished)This was an event I would never forget!
We watched as the sun slowly came out of the moon's shadow. Speechless, invigorated, full of energy.... we walked and walked and walked until we found ourselves in front of a restaurant. Going in and sitting down, we ordered something to eat, just to do something. Everyone was talking about what we had seen right there in Kailua Kona. We were the lucky ones. We had seen Totality!
Read Macpro's Experience Of Totality
On the top left is a sun peep, a filtering device I used to view the sun without harming my eyes from the ultra violet rays. The bottom left is a timetable of the big event for the different islands. (The other islands only got the Partial Eclipse.) On the top right are two filtering glasses, or eye peeps, also used to view the Eclipse . The bottom right shows a silver coin minted by the Bishop Museum. I have added pictures of two pogs designed by my Ohana to commemorate Totality. Pogs are milk bottle caps, collectors items, that became the rage in the early 90's. P-O-G stands for Passion Fruit, Orange, and Guava Juice
The Next Eclipse:
May 3, 2106, On The South End Of The Big Island of Hawaii
Haleiwa Obake Stories
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