Since the beginning of time, eclipses were the portent of doom. Silly superstition, as astrologers point out that eclipses are inevitable events as the moon passes between the sun and the earth. No big deal. Unless you live in India. To most Indian villagers and a good number of city dwellers, the eclipse symbolizes the demon dragon Rahu gobbling up the sun. According to mythology, Rahu deceived the gods and had his head sliced off. The demon's head is thought to resurface once every few years to devour the sun god.

Believers say danger from the eclipse passes only when the sun emerges from Rahu's head. Until this time, nobody eats or drinks, and cooked food is thrown away for fear of contamination from poisonous rays. One village priest warns pregnant women to stay inside during the eclipse lest their children be born blind.

In Romania during the eclipse, church bells will ring out in rural Romania, as people do penance for their sins. And in addition to ringing bells, also be watching out for rivers running with blood. The traditional peasant explanation for the eclipse has it that a wild animal eats the sun to punish men for their sins. Ringing church bells appease the evil spirits allowing the sun to return.

Romanian television is inciting the eclipse fever by broadcasting movies and specials revolving around the legends of Dracula, another bit of folk lore taken quite seriously in the rural part of this country.

In Jerusalem, the holy land, where omens and portents of the future are taken most seriously, millennialistic Christians who have been flocking to Israel as the year comes to the close are using the eclipse as another sign of the coming end. Muslims are being asked to stay at home and offer up prayers linked to the eclipse.