I was anxious to witness yesterday's solar eclipse when I first read about it on some news site weeks before. It was supposed to be the "longest solar eclipse yet that Asia has to witness". Despite my anticipation, I overslept yesterday and totally missed out on this phenomenon.

The only time I remember witnessing a total (or was it partial) solar eclipse was in 1986 (not sure of the year). But I never really looked directly at it since my cousin warned me that I go permanently and totally blind. Ho – hum.

Flashback: Assuming that it happened in 1986, my cousin and I looked at the eclipse through smoked glass. I know. It's very primitive but to date, no harm was done to anyone's eyes.

So, I went did some journal reading and here's what I found out. You cannot go permanently, totally blind by looking at an eclipse. Permanently, maybe. Totally, probably not.

"…even cases of severe initial impairment mostly turned out to be temporary. No guarantees, though--one London eye hospital reported that 10 percent of the eclipse victims they treated suffered some permanent vision loss."

There are a number of superstitious beliefs associated with scientific phenomena such as total solar eclipse. Where I come from, superstition had been a part of our culture and custom. And since my grannies were sort of old school (and I respect that), these beliefs somehow were shared to us.
So at the strike of 12 on New Year's, my cousins and I jump up and down with coins in our pockets. My grannies believe that jumping will make us grow taller while the coins will make us richer.

When a white butterfly enters your home, it foretells good fortune. When it's black however, something bad is going to