Weather forecasting for dummies here in the Northeast: If a full moon or an eclipse is scheduled, overcast is guaranteed.

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/172/world/Thousands_gather_in_Zambia_for:.shtml

Thousands gather in Zambia for first total eclipse of new millennium

By Ravi Nessman, Associated Press, 6/21/2001 05:41

LUSAKA, Zambia (AP) Thousands of tourists, scientists and new age mystics gathered in Zambia on Thursday to watch the first total solar eclipse of the new millennium sweep across southern Africa.

Eclipse day was declared a national holiday. Hotels were fully booked in Lusaka, the only capital within the eclipse band. Farmers in the eclipse path rented out land for makeshift campsites.

''This is a big event for Zambia,'' said Agnes Seenka, head of the government's eclipse committee.

The government expected more than 20,000 tourists the most ever in Zambia and deployed 2,500 police to patrol the streets of Lusaka and other tourist areas.

More than 4,000 people traveled from as far as Japan, Israel and Ecuador to sway to trance music at a farm about 30 miles north of Lusaka during a 10-day eclipse rave.

One pilot chartered a jet to fly people from South Africa to the Lusaka airport for an eclipse barbecue. As insurance against bad weather, he filed a contingency flight plan to take his guests above the clouds for the eclipse. However, the sky Thursday was blue and cloudless.

Zambians have been bombarded for months with front-page newspaper editorials, television commercials and special eclipse radio programs warning not to look directly at the sun without protective eyeglasses before it is fully eclipsed.

On Thursday, this devoutly Christian country was given a different warning. The state-owned Times of Zambia newspaper cautioned that a few tourists were deadly ''enchanters'' and ''demon worshippers'' who prayed to the sun and were ''ready to sacrifice humans.''

The eclipse first hits land in Angola, then travels across Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique before heading out to the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar, getting shorter along the way.

In Zimbabwe, tribal healers warned the eclipse was a sign the ancestors were unhappy with a nation that had abandoned the traditional African values of peace and harmony. As retribution, they would bring further conflict to a country already suffering from political and economic turmoil and the crushing scourge of AIDS.

In Zambia, members of the Ngoni tribe planned to recreate their 1835 crossing of the Zambezi River during their flight from the warriors of the Zulu king Shaka. The original crossing coincided with a total eclipse.

Mozambique has urged reporters, including community radio stations, to explain the science behind the eclipse to its impoverished people so it ''should not cause fear or panic. Because it is a natural and predictable phenomenon, unlikely to cause any material or personal damage.''

In Angola, police seized 5,000 pairs of phony protective glasses being sold by street kids after tests showed they would not protect people's eyes from being damaged during the partial phases of the eclipse as claimed.

Though the eclipse will be longest in Angola, many tourists shied away from a country still fighting a 25-year-old civil war and opted to come to Zambia instead.

In a country where nearly three-quarters of the people were living in poverty, many cannot afford to buy protective glasses or attend the mass barbecues being held in Lusaka.

''We have poor people. Our economy is bad. This is a third-world country,'' said Wedson Simfukwe, 30, who is studying to be a mechanic. Yet the eclipse itself is free entertainment, and many Zambians were relieved to have the diversion.

''It is something remarkable and strange,'' said Winston Mwete, 25, a marketing consultant for a company that sells building materials.

The last total eclipse was in Europe in August 1999. The next one will also hit southern Africa in December 2002, but that will be during the rainy season, when there is a greater chance of cloudy skies.

Chris Holmes, a 20-year-old astrophysics major at Williams College in Massachusetts, is here as part of a Williams team using more than 15 cameras attached to telescopes to take more than 1,000 photos of the eclipse, which will last more than three minutes in Lusaka.

''Who would turn down a chance to see an eclipse in somewhere as interesting as Zambia,'' said Chris Holmes. ''For most people it's a once in a lifetime or less opportunity.''

On the Net:

Solar Eclipse site, http://www.astronomy.co.za/eclipse.asp

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

Answers

Response to ECLIPSE - Gathering in Zambia

http://www.boston.com/dailynews/172/world/Revelers_celebrate_solstice_ at:.shtml

Revelers celebrate solstice at Stonehenge

By Associated Press, 6/21/2001 02:41

LONDON (AP) Amid the beating of drums, thousands of revelers celebrated the summer solstice at the prehistoric monument of Stonehenge.

For only the second time since violence marred the event in 1985, the organization that oversees Stonehenge allowed ordinary observers inside the ancient monument to watch the sun rise on the year's longest day.

A 14,500-strong crowd of Druids, New Age followers and curiosity- seekers gathered inside and around the stone circle 80 miles southwest of London as dawn came at 4:55 a.m. Thursday.

Cloudy skies stopped the first rays of the sun shining through an archway into the inner circle, but did not seem to dampen the festive spirit as people danced, beat on drums and watched fire jugglers.

''We have had a very enjoyable night,'' said Pam Alexander, chief executive of English Heritage which owns the site. ''We are very pleased that we are managing a much more peaceful and celebratory approach.''

Police reported only five arrests, all for minor drugs offenses.

''Everyone's been friendly,'' said druid priest Mark Graham. ''There's a very high energy here.''

The lichen-covered stones are the remnants of the last in a sequence of circular monuments built between 3000 B.C. and 1600 B.C.

Exactly how and why Stonehenge was built remains a mystery. The stones align with the rising of the sun on the longest day of the year. Some experts say its builders came from a sun-worshipping culture. Others say that it aligns with the sunrise because it forms part of a huge astronomical calendar.

Revelers were banned from holding solstice ceremonies at the site after clashes with police in 1985, and a four-mile exclusion order was later put in place.

In 1998, English Heritage allowed 100 people to gather within the stones at dawn as part of a step toward admitting larger crowds.

Two years ago, Stonehenge was opened to 150 druids, but about 200 people gatecrashed the event and clashed with police.

Last year, English Heritage decided to allow full access again and the celebration, attended by about 8,000 revelers, passed peacefully with no arrests.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001

Woke up, worshipped Sol, contemplated making human sacrifice of slandering newspaper editor but decided it wouldn't be nice or set a good example for the children. Waffles topped with applesauce and vanilla yogurt for lunch. Health department coming to look at 3 dead blue jays to see if it was West Nile. Circumstances seemed unusual enough for them to actually come out for it, unlike last year when I had to take the dead chipmunk in. You are right, no sun in evidence today.

-- Anonymous, June 21, 2001