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ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — With the highly anticipated solar eclipse less than a week away, early Wednesday, people in the Capital Region got a different point of view of the rare celestial spectacle in the sky. They learned about the event through the eyes of Native Americans.
In a room full of more than 300 visitors, young and old, at the New York State Museum, Perry Ground of the Onondaga Nation did what he does best as a traditional story teller. Sharing legends from different Native American nations and how they explained the sun’s disappearance during solar eclipses.
“For us, for the Haudenosaunee, the native people of New York, our story talks about peace and joining together,” Ground explained.
From animals eating the sun to tricksters playing with mother nature, the stories helped explain a natural phenomena that’s occurred since people started looking up!
“Even though we know it’s not a big bear or big frog eating the sun, people might go and do the action making noise shooting an arrow at the sun,” Ground said.
Though science paints a different picture and explains the natural occurrence, for Ground, the legends continue time honored traditions and a sense of wonder.
“In school, we learn a lot of about Native Americans. It’s cool to see what they think from their perspective,” said 12 year-old Luke Pickett.
Also attending the story-telling presentation, Vincent Reiter, who said, “You don’t want to think of something as your point of view, you want to think of other people’s point of view and how it was back in the day.”
Whether people are awestruck, mesmerized or maybe a little scared, the celestial event, offering a rare moment of connection.
“Literally, as he’s talking, I’m, like, this is silly don’t get so emotional,” said Deborah Reiter.
Ground added, “To me, the eclipse is about peace and unity.”
An event bringing us all together, if only for a few minutes, to stare up and see the same thing in the sky beyond earth.
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