If you haven’t seen a blood moon in your life, this is your chance as the longest Total Lunar Eclipse is just around the corner.

It is a key to understand the logic and reason behind something in order to entirely comprehend its potential. Similarly, if you look at the sky, thousands of stars can be seen wandering about. Without knowing, you comprehend it as a shining dot in the sky when in actuality those are objects that have luminous spheroids of plasma that are held together by their own gravity. In fact, the intense pressure and temperature at the core of the star allow nuclear fusion reactions to take place and this reaction releases energy in form of gamma rays, which seems like a bright light to the naked eye. Likewise, awareness is crucial because otherwise the world will circulate around superstitions and crazy theories.

The world in the early stages was completely different as people were not aware of the laws of the earth. Superstations were a common thing. People looked at things differently than we do know when we do have the facts. A common superstition that arose was about space and what it holds. At that time, people were not equipped enough to identify the reason behind the things we see in the sky. Similarly, when the topic of the blood moon arose it was thought that it was something that is evil and dangerous.

The blood moon alone with its color frightened people and made them dwell upon superstations are senseless folk stories. Some of the misconceptions were based upon the color alone while others have been developed into extensive stories with a villain and a plot twist. Every culture and region had their own understating of this manifestation.

In the year 1504 as a way to his freedom, Christopher Columbus tricked the people of Jamaica in thinking something farfetched about the blood moon. He himself knew the facts about this occurrence but used this event to his advantage. Just because they lacked knowledge, Arawak (a group of indigenous people of Jamaica) began to believe that Columbus’s god made the moon disappear and will appear again but it would be inflamed with wrath. When indeed the Blood moon rose, it undoubtedly petrified the Arawak. This story sided with Columbus and he was provided with his things he demanded.

There have been times when something out of the ordinary would appear and people were incompetent to grasp it. In result, fear from the event would take place.

In the British Isles, a Superstition that was going around was that you should not stare at the blood moon. They believed that a man residing on the moon finds it offensive and rude. Additionally, if you point to that moon nine times, you will not be able to enter the heaven.

In the mid-15th to 16th century, pre-Columbus America was frightened of the blood moon. The Inca Empire (dominant in South Africa before Columbus) believed that this incident would provoke a Jaguar to eat that blood moon. As implausible as this theory was, they also thought once he had successfully devoured the moon, the predator would eat them as well. A jaguar eating the moon may sound wild but it was a theory that some Chinese Cultures also believed.

Additionally, the Romanian townsfolk had a theory that was also assumed by people from South America to eastern Asia. They thought that the vampire was in constant war with the blood moon. The name of that vampire was Varcolaci. This vampire could also change itself to a werewolf or a goblin. As by the folktales, Varcolaci would sleep and during its slumber, the vampire would become a spirit and would attempt to eat the moon while being linked to its body through its mouth. If it were successful, it would lead to a full moon instead of the blood moon. Blood moon was a failed attempt to eat the moon. Whenever a blood moon appeared, they would panic and tremble with fear.

These theories and superstitions were scary to believe but people back then did not know how the blood moon works. Having the facts today, we do know that the moon is bright and white as sunlight directly hits the moon. While in a blood moon situation, the earth comes in between the moon and the sun, which makes the sun pass some of its red light to the moon, consequently the blood moon occurs. You can get a good look at a blood moon for yourself as the longest Total Lunar Eclipse (lasting for 1 hour and 43 minutes) of the century will take place on the 27^th of July.