LUNAR ECLIPSE OF THE MOON

At 1930hrs dated 10th December 2011, mark another good date to remember for many more years to come. LUNAR ECLIPSE will Supersize Blood - RED MOON again happening today. It's started with a brighter fullmoon at 1930hrs. And I was at our verandah waiting and waiting for it to happen. The cloud was too thick though, and sometimes its just hard to see the moon. Luckily, the cloud move very fast.

Taken at 2055hrs, bright and fullmoon.

Long time ago, I still  recalled when we were young, and if eclipse of the moon or sun happened, we with all the neightbours will gathered at our compound. Everyone have their drums or anything that can give a lots of sound. Our elderly says, :" tolonon barob ilo wulan" - meaning the Dragon swallowing the moon. Of course, when you small and young that time, you believe it 100%! So when the moon become darker and darker - its start from down ( or easy to say left to right), that is the time we all started to beat the drum or the tins, making it noisy. Its a believe that when the dragon heard the noises, believing the dragon will vomit the moon ( hahaha was it true?). But definitely, it so aramaitii that time. We will not go to sleep or do anything else before the dragon vomit it hehehe. And the elderly will starts telling us, not to stand outside to avoid the dragon saliva to drop onto us. There, we will cut the banana leaves and held it up on our head to avoid the saliva dropping  They say, the banana leave can protect you from becoming a stone! ( hahaha was it true?)

You see, it started to darken a little below.

Last night, I was excited to see it happening again like a little girl. Have not see it for a long long time. Even seeing the stars sparkling on the sky make my heart jump of joy. I think we sometime forgotten to see the beauty up the sky at night when we so busy with our life, work and busy with fb! As my daily life, woke up at 6.30am ( sun up already), work at 9.00am, and finished at 6pm. Reached home, take shower, dinner and either watched movie or on computer. Hardly go outside to see the beauty of the night. But tonight, was glad to be able to witnessed the eclipse of the moon happening. My mother was with me watching it, and infact she told me alot of things happening on their younger days. But I was not tentatively listening to her, cos I was busy clicking my camera, targeting to get a better shoot of the moon. But I remember very strongly, if during the " tolonon barod ilo wulan", no one are allowed to go standing directly under the moon. Otherwise,  if the saliva of the dragon drop onto you, you will become stone.

See, the dragon is starting swallowing the moon.

I heard one of my neighbour, a young man starting to called her sister, brother and nieces and nephews " mari tengok tu bulan (come let see the moon), mau kena makan barob sudah ( the dragon is swallowing it). I think he still believe it ( well in my little heart - I do hehehehe). He did not see me, I was busy standing beside my car, so that I can stand still again it. I did not use tripod cos I was not so good using it...I just used my stand hand to shoot to get a better picture. Alot of trial, error and of course patience. Well, I was happy to get some good pictures.

Very fast, at 21:56hrs, this is what you can see now

And that neighbour still beating his pail  making  noises, while looking up and saying " nah, tolonon barob". Well, he is a little drunk, I can say. But I like him beating the drum/pail though hehehe. Luckily, I did not join him or else others will think I am drunk or crazy too. For a while, I could  not see the moon. It goes totally dark cos the thick cloud still covering it. After a few minutes, you now started to see the stars sparkling beautifully  up the sky. There is big one, small one , red, orange and very brightly shining. Wow! my heart jump of joys! Betul2 sia mcm budak kecil...really happy to see the stars and I started singing ( in a little sound) twinkle twinkle little star, how I wonder who you are? Angels I guessed huh. Did I make a wish? Oh yes, I did! hehehe...when the moon appear again, it was indeed red/brown in color.

Partly getting brighter again ( this time its start from right to left or up to bottom)

At first, I was almost disappointed when I tried and tried to shoot the moon in a full esclipe moment, I could not get a good shot. I was like " aahhhh! what setting do I have to do now?", as I say earlier, a lots of trial & error, and after much time resetting my camera, then bingo! I managed to have this shot. It is not that clear but was very happy with it though. Especially I managed to shoot when the red/brown color still covering the moon. Oh ya, my neighbour still beating his drum/pail and shouting to his siblings. Then I heard his big brother, shouted back, telling him to stop beating the drum cos he is making noises! Kasihan gia dia...and I heard him mumbling angry cos no one joined him. hehehehe sisian gia dia.

Its almost there, the dragon is indeed going to vomit it back hehehe

I wish I was watching it together with my children and other family members. Would be good and especially my mum are there, she surely will tell a lots of stories which I believe the grandchildren and great grand children would love to hear kan. Anyway, I am happy, I have the chance to see it again and this time with some pictures taken for my rememberance and for my grand children to see next time.

Well, they can read my stories too hahahahaha...

According to Sky & Telescope, the next partial lunar eclipse will happen June 4, 2012, and should be visible across most of North America. The next total lunar eclipse will occur in April 2014.

Chayo! Chayo.