To See The Sun No More

I recently traveled to Houlton, Maine, to participate in a seemingly national cultural event: the viewing of the total annular eclipse. It was not a journey that I had really planned out beforehand. The decision to go at all was in question up until the hour before I left. I made the trek up to the northern half of the state that I have learned to call home with a close friend of mine who had also awoken that morning, unsure of his participation in the journey.

As we drove up with plenty of time to spare we could not help but notice the immense amount of traffic on a hundred-mile section of the interstate which rarely sees more than three cars at a time. It was clear to us that people wanted to see this eclipse. As rather lukewarm astronomers, we were unprepared for the mass of people we would encounter when we reached our viewing destination.

During the ride, our conversation turned to the apocalyptic messages that have been spread throughout the media on the topic of this eclipse. We discussed the correlation of Catholic feast days with the day of the eclipse. We exchanged thoughts on ancient pagan societies and their sun religions. In the end, we agreed that the end of the world scenario was not much more likely on our current day than it was the day before, but our conversation established a type of reverence and awe in my mind as we got closer to the time and the location of our viewing.

After a very short, minimally researched discussion, we decided to head into the downtown area of Houlton, where there would a so-called Eclipse Festival. By the time we arrived, the town of Houlton was packed. I had been there myself three or four times in the past, and much like the interstate that leads into the heart of the town, it was rare to see more than a few people in the town at a time. Every parking lot and driveway in the downtown area was filled with cars, most of which were from out of state.

We found a parking space where we could and we walked to the street which was hosting the festival. The streets were crowded with thousands of people. There were people dressed as aliens and people with fancy telescopes. There was a local radio station broadcasting live with a disc jockey who was making announcements between songs standing and would spend the time during the songs dancing around and mouthing the words. The festival element of the gathering seemed to consist of the radio station, a few food trucks, and five or six local businesses selling baked goods at card tables. Despite the underwhelming festival elements, the street and surrounding areas were packed.

My companion and I remained in the downtown area until the moon began to cover the sun. There was about an hour from when the eclipse started until when totality began, which is when the sun is completely covered. As the eclipse began, we watched thousands of people put on their eclipse glasses and look up to the sky. It was quite a unique scene, thousands of people from all over New England, some from further away, all wearing paper glasses and staring at the sun. This sight was almost as incredible as the view that would come with the total eclipse. 

Given the size of the crowd and the fact that there was nowhere to sit down, my friend and I made the decision to travel out of the downtown area to see the eclipse reach totality. We drove to a nearby surplus store and state icon, Marden's. We set up in the parking lot with a couple hundred people and waiting for the anticipated moment. 

As the time for totality approached, the sky grew dark, and the streetlights turned on. The complete covering of the sun was greeted by cheering, clapping, and yelling from our parking lot neighbors. The sky was completely dark, with the exception of the eclipsed sun and some stars. All along the horizon, it looked as if the sun was about to rise. It was a sight like no other. The shock expressed very loudly by others around us reissured me that this was indeed a unique moment in my life. As the moon began to uncover the sun, my companion and I packed up our stuff and headed out as quickly as possible to get ahead of the traffic.


What is it about the changes in the sky that grab the attention of all of humanity? I think it is probably the fact that the rising and the setting of the sun is a consistent occurrence that we depend upon. The sun has an ultimate power over our world. If it were not to rise, it would affect all of us. If it were not to keep the earth warm, it would kill all of us. The sun's significance is reflected in the pagan cultures of the past, and it also has metaphorical significance in Judeo-Christian culture. One obvious example is that the setting and the rising of the sun is a beautiful metaphor for the death and resurrection of the son of God. 

I think that most people that we encountered on our journey to Houlton were probably not particularly religious and yet they all had a desire to travel to see the sun be hidden for a few minutes. My friend and I would both consider ourselves practicing Catholics, and yet we did not travel to Houlton for a religious experience. Why did we go to Houlton? Why did anyone go to Houlton? Why did working people with families and lifestyles to support abandon their responsibilities for a day to spend hours in the car and then look up at the sky for three minutes to see something they could have watched on the internet? 

I do not think I have an answer to this question. My habitual pessimism wants to say that we went out of curiosity. Maybe that is a correct enough answer. However, part of me wants there to be a greater, more profound reason. I could make some flowery defense as to how the eclipse points to our desire for religion or our attraction to the unknown and the divine, but I just do not know if that could be true.

The crossover between my pessimism and my desire for greater meaning is the conclusion that our current society shows up to watch the light of the sun be covered because our society prefers the darkness to the light. At times it seems that our world today is just waiting for the light of the sun (or the Son) to be fully covered. Is that why I went? Do I deep down desire for the light to be covered? Perhaps this is not why I went, but I must admit the desire for the darkness, for sin, is still very alive in my heart. 

Either way, it is here that I have finally found the metaphor I have been searching for. As our society spirals into darkness, it experiences excitement in its moments of complete denial of the light. I found the presence of the crowds viewing the eclipse so shocking because, as a man who does not have a vested interest in astronomy, I do not understand why so many people would be so interested in the eclipse. The devout Christian finds many of the world's major sins unattractive because they have not spent their days in constant sin. The Christian finds complete darkness unattractive because they have not spent their days in almost complete darkness. I am not trying to say that the devout Christian does not find darkness attractive, but the darkness the Christian finds attractive is likely sprinkled with some light. It is only then that they can stomach it.

Astronomy enthusiasts love the eclipse because they spend their days staring up at the sky, looking for incredible things. The secular world loves the darkness because they spend each day running further and further from the light. Based on the attendance in Houlton, Maine, there are so many more people interested in astronomy than I thought; based on my attendance, it seems that I am one of them. Perhaps there are so many more people interested in the darkness than I thought. Perhaps I too am one of them.


And this is the judgment: because the light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than the light: for their works were evil. For every one that doth evil hateth the light, and cometh not to the light, that his works may not be reproved. But he that doth truth, cometh to the light, that his works may be made manifest, because they are done in God (St. John 3:19-21)

I am glad we do not have to try to kill the stars. Imagine if each day a man must try to kill the moon, he thought. The moon runs away. But imagine if a man each day should have to try to kill the sun? We were born lucky, he thought (Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea)

But I say to you, Love your enemies: do good to them that hate you: and pray for them that persecute and calumniate you: That you may be the children of your Father who is in heaven, who maketh his sun to rise upon the good, and bad, and raineth upon the just and the unjust. (St. Matthew 5:44-45)

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