Ancient beliefs

Today is Jan 15 2010, a solar eclipse is happening right now. In India, a Hindu belief is that people should avoid outdoors and not eat during this time. In Hyderabad, a group of people seeking to disprove this belief, organized a lunch outing in a park over there during this time. Due to the media broadcasting this, a group of believers have reached there as well. You can imagine what is being shown on TV - both groups fiercely expressing their views to the TV reporter there. The other channels are also showing debates on this very issue.

I did a Google search and found the following scientific paper in a Journal on Radiation and Environmental Biophysics - http://www.springerlink.com/content/x826423w10j76744/
Excerpt from the Introduction -

"We detected a significantly greater killing of bacteria exposed to solar radiation during the eclipse period than at the corresponding time of a normal day. Our study further indicated that a significantly greater amount of near ultraviolet light reached the earth's surface during the eclipse period and hence the additional risk involved in directly exposing our eyes and skin to solar radiation during this period."

The main words above are 'ultraviolet light'. We are advised to use sunscreen, during normal days itself, to combat this very type of light.

The believers might have been debating the issue the wrong way by bringing religion into the picture. If the opponents' broader goal is the debunking of religion in general, it is definitely the worst debate strategy to use that as the main reason for their belief.

The point of this blog is - in general, I have learned not to dismiss similar stuff (belief + reasons) told to me by parents, other elders etc. Instead I now try to find out, if that belief is more widespread than I thought; if the reasons are more valid than I thought; or if there were other/totally-different reasons, than the ones that were popular, supporting/validating the same belief.

For me, these beliefs are alert signals, even if they sometimes originate from people we don't hold in high regard or even agree with.

(Apparently, this 'myth' is more widespread than I knew earlier - http://www.bautforum.com/bad-astronomy-stories/40153-solar-eclipse-myth-alive-well.html
I would tend to take any 'myth' that is global, seriously.)