For more information about the total solar eclipse on April 8, including where to watch, start time and events happening around San Antonio, check out our guide.
While millions of Americans are making plans to view next month’s total solar eclipse, which will span 13 states including Texas, those who observe select indigenous traditions are instead preparing for a holy time of renewal.
For some Native American tribes, such as the Navajo, solar eclipses are a time of reverence and self-sacrifice rather than a time for indulging in awe, said Nancy Maryboy, president and founder of the Indigenous Education Institute.
The Navajo worldview, and the worldviews of many Native Americans, is very holistic and interconnected, Maryboy said. Each of us is a part of the universe and the universe is a part of us, moving in constant flux and creating a network of relationships to the world and people around us, she explained.
Maryboy, who is of Cherokee and Navajo descent, told a room full of reporters last week that it is Navajo tradition not to be outside during solar eclipses. The Navajo believe solar eclipses are a time to pay homage to the cosmic order, she added.
“You don’t eat, you don’t sleep, you don’t have sex,” she said. “It’s a joyful time of renewal.”
Much of these traditions likely had to do with the absence of safe ways to view eclipses back in the day other than looking at shadows on the ground, Maryboy said. While some Navajo still adhere to this traditional way of life during solar eclipses, many others are open to viewing eclipses now with the invention of eclipse glasses, she said.
Maryboy also emphasized that every tribe is different. Many Cherokee, for example, believed that solar eclipses were a giant frog spirit eating the sun. Their tradition became to go outside and make as much noise as possible to scare away the giant frog.
“They all have stories that are all intertwined with their own culture,” she said.
Cody Cly, a doctoral candidate in physics and astronomy at UTSA who was born and raised on a Navajo reservation in New Mexico, said he’s experienced the piety observed during a solar eclipse firsthand.
“We see the sun and the moon as divine beings,” Cly said. “For us, it’s more of a spiritual and a holy thing that two beings are coming together and we should avert our eyes out of respect and fast and pray for them for rebirth and renewal.”
Cly said he experienced two partial solar eclipses in his time on the reservation, when family and friends celebrated in the traditional Navajo ways. He also remained indoors, he recalled.
“This goes back to our creation stories,” he said. “A long time ago there were monsters that roamed the Earth and the sun is a being that keeps them away because he’s almighty, but when the eclipse happens, they say that unholy beings come out.”
He experienced the annular or “ring of fire” eclipse in San Antonio in October, during which Cly said he combined some Navajo traditions with his own scientific curiosity.
“What I did for the annular was I didn’t eat, I didn’t drink any water, I didn’t go to the bathroom, I just watched and I observed and I just listened,” he said. “It just got really quiet, and so it was very moving and touching as well.”
He will likely do the same for the upcoming total solar eclipse, he said, adding that many modern Navajo people do the same — mixing the ways of their ancestors with the practices of today.
