8000 visitors have voyaged to the Faroe islands to witness the amazing event..
CBC news reported it this way for the historical accounts:
People shouted, cheered and applauded as Longyearbyen, the main town in Svalbard, plunged into darkness. The skies were clear, offering a full view of the sun's corona — a faint ring of rays surrounding the moon — that is only visible during a total solar eclipse.
A few hundred people had gathered on a flat frozen valley overlooking the mountains, and people shouted and yelled as the sudden darkness came. A group of people opened bottles of champagne, saying it was in keeping with a total solar eclipse tradition.
People are 'blown away' by the event.. As the darkness shrouded the existence, eyes on the sky were perplexed and fixated on the rare event--so many times in history, human beings had the same reaction. Despite the time and place, we are always amazed when the source of life and light vanishes behind a cloak of darkness.. Many people, as we know, see it as a harbinger.. a time when darkness invades the land. That belief goes back a long way. But it still exists today as much as it did then, despite scientific explanations as to why and how solar eclipses happen in the first place. I think we are programmed through evolution and the development of the brain to be apprehensive of darkness.. and when our senses see dark skies on what should be a sunny day, it throws the mind for a loop.
Coming later on top of the darkness, a blood moon at night. Spring, too.. the equinox to remember.
A few weeks ago, I had a dream that was bizarre.. In the night terror, it was 4am and it was sunny. People were confused as to why the sun had risen so early, and it was as bright as noon at 4am.. People were waking early to come out from their comfort zone and look to the a frightening sky.. It reminded me a bit of the MIDNIGHT SUN Twilight Zone episode..
And that is why eclipses rattle us. They make the unexpected occur.. They turn off the lights.. they let the darkness enter. And the fear begins..
Happy viewing to those who see it.
Happy shoveling to anyone else getting the snow today.
Happy spring to all who are reading.