New York City was not one of the ideal places to see this Monday the total eclipse that has mobilized the United States. But it did allow partial vision, so protective glasses were necessary, something impossible to find in the previous hours. “No more eclipse glasses,” reported the sign on the door of the neighborhood's public library. So the best way to be safe from radiation in a fit of curiosity was to pretend to be Navajo.
Within this collective craze that has suddenly emerged in this country to look at the sky, which is why almost four million Americans have traveled to “hunt the eclipse” generating a business of about 1 billion dollars in income, the Navajo nation is one of those cultures that dedicate rituals to eclipses, which are part of their religious mythology.
For the Navajos it is a sacred time, so they stay inside, without looking outside, even with the curtains drawn, to meditate calmly. They don't come out to observe him out of respect and "out of fear that his power could cause an imbalance in that individual," Professor Henry Fowler of Navajo Technical University told Axios.
Their prevention and fears collide with the passion that this phenomenon has awakened in North America, when the sun will go dark covered by the Moon, with the Earth alienated in the same direction.
This is without a doubt the most promoted, most followed, most Instagrammed total eclipse in the history of social media. There is no paragon. The United States had one of these phenomena in 2017 and will not enjoy another until August 23, 2044. In between, Spain can take advantage and attract tourism by August 12, 2026.
The first totality of this day occurred in Mazatlán (Mexico), around 11:07 a.m., 2:07 p.m. on the east coast of the United States. The event caused euphoria among those gathered and applause. The sun disappeared. "The first thing I noticed was the drop in temperature and then dawn came again," one of those gathered said on CNN. Another was surprised by "the chirping of the birds." It was about four minutes at night during the day.
The "totality" occurred in stages. And in all of them the scenes of revelry, shouting, and applause were repeated, always in light of the plague of mobile phones that break the darkness and steal part of the magic.
Unlike those native tribes (several indigenous people gathered at Niagara Falls and at the time of the eclipse they lowered their heads and closed their eyes out of respect for the privacy of the moment), the travel and tourism industry made a splash in a time of year not very conducive to travel.
Newton Chu traveled 6,000 kilometers from Hawaii to be in Indianapolis at the right time. As he explained on NBC, he already had a total eclipse experience on his homeland, on Mauna Kea. Then, in 2017, he flew to Idaho for another occasion.
“My goal this time is to see a planet that I have never seen in daylight, although the truth is I was satisfied with being at the right time and place,” he said when the time was close to set in that eastern part of the US. USA
“During a total eclipse, you are immersed in the shadow of the Moon, you are in this mysterious twilight. You can see the stars and planets shine. And, of course, the greatest attraction is observing the solar corona, something that you cannot see in a partial one, not even 99%,” said Fred Espenak, a retired astrophysicist who worked at NASA and with 30 total eclipses in his background. . “It's the difference between night and day,” he added in The Washington Post.
Apart from these tourists, or eclipse hunters as they like to call themselves, some 31.5 million people reside in the territory affected by this phenomenon, a strip barely 200 kilometers wide that extends from Mazatlán, in Mexico, to Newfoundland. , in Canada, passing through fifteen US states. If the focus is widened, some 150 million people could observe or experience the eclipse completely or partially due to the sudden darkness.
Under US Eastern Time, the total eclipse started in Mexico and disappeared in Canada around 3:45 p.m. (East Coast time). In New York, around 3:25, the eclipse was 90%. The clouds, however, partly spoiled the party for these curious people, although they also experienced the phenomenon of dusk when it doesn't fall.
The first images that were disseminated were those of Mazatlán, a massive concentration of interested parties, in an absolute party atmosphere with musical predominance of Bad Bunny. “I couldn't choose a better place for the whole than this place,” Michael Zavala told The New York Times. Zavala traveled from Austin (Texas). "The weather, the place, the good vibes, it's all here," he stressed after consummating what he described as "wonderful." At this rally, CNN highlighted that they had found Spaniards who came on their own for the event.
In Russelville, Arkansas, and in clear denial of the Navajos, a massive wedding was organized, with dozens of couples on the occasion of the eclipse. The organizers assured that there were couples who had separated and found in this phenomenon the opportunity to remarry.
Even psychologists talked about how this phenomenon was very good for depressives, a good therapy because, accustomed to having a wandering mentality, this phenomenon made them attached to reality. One thing that the experts said and was confirmed: this is a phenomenon to be observed socially, with friends or family or surrounded by people who want to enjoy the event. There were families who traveled from three different parts of the United States to find themselves in one of the totalities.
“At a time of so much political division, this unites us all in the sense of humanity,” said one of those gathered in Kerville, Texas, one of the critical points in this country as it is the entry territory for numerous immigrants without documentation, converted into a weapon in US politics.
Many of the hotel establishments in the so-called totality zone displayed the everything complete sign. There were even complaints from far-sighted observers, who made the reservation a year or more ago, and found themselves without a bed because they arrived with superior offers. The average occupancy was close to 96% on Sunday the 7th, when the previous day it did not reach 30% in much of this territory.
According to Kate Russo, psychologist, writer and eclipse hunter, “you think you know what you are going to experience, but you have no idea,” she noted online. This was her 14th experience. “I say this is the ineffable thing, sometimes things happen that you don't have words to describe,” she insisted.
