Beijing is one of the cities in China that will experience part of the much anticipated solar eclipse, which will occur on Wednesday, July 22, 2009. While there are some cities that will experience complete blackouts, the eclipse in Beijing will only be partial and should be easily viewed. While there is great anticipation and excitement surrounding a total eclipse, areas that experience a partial element are often luckier, as they can create beautiful horizons, silhouetted images, shadowing and other light oriented displays. They are extremely popular and many people travel to areas in which they will be able to view partial or full blackouts caused by them. The five star Beijing hotels will certainly have guests that are there specifically to witness this uncommon event. An eclipse happens when the moon crossed directly in front of the sun at a particular angle to the earth and cause a complete or partial blockage of the suns visibility and rays.
There are many legends and mythological associations to eclipses, and they are common throughout history and various world cultures. There has also been many references to eclipses in entertainment and literature, and a genre of poetry focuses on their beauty and also social significance. In China, one of the ancient stories surrounding eclipses involves a heavenly dog who eats the sun. People would make loud noises during this time to scare off the dog and this would carry on until the sun returned. In India some of the concepts are more health precautionary. The eclipse is considered to be inauspicious tradition requires that women forbid pregnant relatives to go outside because if they do the baby can be born with marks, or other defects. In some areas temples refuse to offer prayers during the day of an eclipses, and this is particularly prominent Mumbai, where there is a temple located next to the observatory. These temples will not even light incense candles on these days.
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