Thailand has both Rahu and the moon-eating frog. Around the world, 21 of 37 cultures say something eats the sun or the moon, and people come out banging drums to chase it off.
"Rahu swallowing the moon" (Rahu om chan) is the Thai name for an eclipse. The myth says Rahu holds a grudge against the Sun and the Moon for reporting him to Vishnu, so whenever he meets them he grabs one and swallows it. He can't hold it for long, though. The heat is too much and he spits it back out. In astronomy, a lunar eclipse is simply the Moon passing through Earth's shadow.
A great many cultures tell eclipses the way Thais do. Of the 37 cultures for which we found sources on eclipses, 21, or 57%, say something eats the sun or the moon. That answer turns up on 5 of 6 continents; the only gap is Oceania, where we have a source for just one culture. Take out the 5 cultures that call an eclipse a sign from God or the gods, and the 1 whose source only says it is a time for ceremony, and 31 cultures remain that explain what is happening in the sky. 21 of those 31, or 68%, say something is eating it.
As for what people do during an eclipse, 9 cultures in our data make noise or take up weapons to drive the eater away: Tai villagers beating drums and gongs at the frog, the Chinese navy firing its artillery during a lunar eclipse in the 19th century, and the Chippewa and Ojibwe shooting flaming arrows at the sun to light it again.
Where the Rahu story comes from
The story comes from India. The Hindu Puranas tell how the gods and the asuras churned the Ocean of Milk together to obtain amrita, the nectar of immortality. Vishnu took the form of the enchantress Mohini to hand the nectar out to the gods. An asura named Svarbhanu disguised himself, sat in the row of gods and drank some. The Sun and the Moon saw it and told. Mohini threw the Sudarshana discus and cut off his head, but it was too late: he was already immortal. The head became Rahu and the body became Ketu.
Ever since, Rahu has chased the Sun and the Moon to swallow them in revenge. But he is only a head with no body, so they slip out through his throat every time. In Sanskrit an eclipse is called grahana. Hindu tradition treats it as a bad omen: people pray for protection, may fast for up to 6 hours beforehand, bathe afterwards, and pregnant women take special care.
There is an even older layer. Thai Wikipedia says that in the Rigveda, Svarbhanu was a danava who envied the Sun, seized it and swallowed it, and Indra cut off his head with a discus to set the Sun free. That version has no nectar in it yet, and the one who does the cutting is Indra, not Vishnu.
The Thai Rahu: cut through the middle, not at the neck
When the story reached Thailand, one detail changed in a way you can see. Thai astrological tradition says Rahu hid among the clouds during the churning of the ocean, then disguised himself as a god and secretly drank the nectar. The Sun and the Moon reported him to Vishnu, whose discus cut Rahu clean through the middle of his body. The upper half stayed immortal because the nectar had flowed down exactly as far as his waist; the lower half became Ketu. So the Thai Rahu has half a body, while the Hindu Rahu, cut at the neck, is only a head.
The ending differs too. The Thai Rahu grabs the Sun or the Moon and swallows it, but he can't hold it in his mouth for long and has to spit it out, because he can't bear the heat and the radiance. It doesn't slip out through his throat as in the Hindu version. Thai sources don't even agree with each other: Thai Wikipedia's page on the nine planetary deities says it was Indra who threw the discus and cut Rahu at the waist, the severed tail becoming Ketu, and another version has Venus (Phra Suk) join Rahu's and Ketu's bodies to a naga.
Another story doesn't appear in the Hindu versions at all. A Thai folktale says that in a past life the Sun, the Moon and Rahu were siblings from the same mother, Rahu the youngest. One day the three gave alms to the monks together. The Sun used a gold vessel, the Moon a silver one, and Rahu a coconut shell. When they were reborn as planetary deities, their bodies took the colours of what they had used: the Sun shines like gold, the Moon is white as silver, and Rahu is dark as sapphire with a bronze sheen. This is a Buddhist tale of merit and karma. It has no nectar in it, and it exists to explain the colours of the gods.
Rahu appears in the Buddhist canon as well. The Candima Sutta of the Samyutta Nikaya tells how Candima, the moon deity, was seized by Rahu, lord of the asuras, and called on the Buddha for refuge. The Buddha told Rahu to let him go. Rahu released him at once and ran, trembling, to the asura king Vepacitti, saying that if he hadn't let go his head would have split into 7 pieces. In this version Rahu doesn't swallow the moon, he only grabs it, and the eclipse ends because of the Buddha rather than because Rahu has no body. Thai Wikipedia also cites the Anagatavamsa, which says Rahu will one day become a Buddha himself, named Narada.
The frog that eats the moon: the Tai people's own eater
In many Tai communities across Thailand, Laos and Vietnam, an eclipse is the moment a frog or toad tries to swallow the sun or the moon. The story later blended with the Hindu Rahu, so Thai belief carries two eaters stacked on top of each other: the local frog and the imported Rahu. When an eclipse comes, villagers beat drums and gongs, shout and set off firecrackers to startle the frog into spitting the moon back out.
What many people don't know is that in some of the old versions the frog is the good guy. It climbs up to get back a magic medicine the Moon has taken, but the villagers below see it getting close to the Moon, assume it is about to eat it, and drum it away, so the frog never gets its medicine back. The story "The Frog Eats the Moon and the Sun" was inscribed on Thailand's National Intangible Cultural Heritage list in 2013 (2556 in the Thai calendar), under folk literature and language.
Who eats the sun and the moon around the world
The table below lists the 21 cultures that say something eats the sun or moon: 11 in Asia, 7 in North America, and 1 each in Europe, Africa and South America. Our sample leans towards Asia and North America because English-language sources write about them most, so 57% and 68% are shares of the cultures we could find sources for, not of the whole world. A culture missing from the table doesn't mean it has no eclipse story, only that we don't have a source yet. Several of the cultures here also come from science news pieces quoting astronomers rather than from fieldwork.
Some eaters repeat across continents. The frog turns up in Thailand, in Vietnam, and among the Cherokee of the southeastern United States, on the other side of the planet. The jaguar appears in all 3 great civilisations of the Americas: the Aztec, the Maya and the Inca. Dragons or serpents appear in 5 cultures: China, the Visayan Bakunawa, the Tagalog Laho, the Persian dragon Gochihr and Egypt's giant serpent from the Nile. Dogs or wolves appear in 3: China's Tiangou, Korea's Bulgae and the Norse wolves. And a bear chewing on the sun is reported both among the Pomo of California and the Buryats of Siberia.
In some of them you can trace how far the Rahu story travelled. The Tagalog of the Philippines call the serpent-like dragon that causes lunar eclipses Laho, a name derived from Rahu, and the word laho also means "eclipse" and "to vanish". The Visayan Bakunawa later merged with Rahu and Ketu as well. Persian astrology turned the Moon's nodes into a dragon called Gochihr, the ascending and descending nodes forming its head and tail, which lines up exactly with the Rahu and Ketu pair.
Other eaters are one of a kind. The Bagobo of Mindanao tell of Minokawa, a bird as big as an island, with mirrors for eyes and every feather a sharp sword. The Hupa of California say the Moon is a man who hunts every day to feed his pets; on days they aren't satisfied, the rattlesnakes and mountain lions devour him, and one of his wives binds his wounds so he can shine again. Ancient Egypt saw a lunar eclipse as a sow swallowing the Moon for a short while. The Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth of Canada's Pacific coast said the swallower was the mouth, or the door, of heaven. The Dom of the Middle East are reported to say the eater is an ancestor who is owed money, and the Choctaw tell of a black squirrel.
| Culture | Who eats it | What people do |
|---|---|---|
| Hindu (India) | Rahu and Ketu | Treated as a bad omen; prayers for protection, fasting up to 6 hours before, bathing afterwards |
| Thai, Tai and Lao | A frog, and Rahu | Beat drums and gongs, shout, set off firecrackers |
| Vietnam | A frog or toad (another source says a dog) | Not stated in the source |
| China (Han) | Tiangou the heavenly dog; a three-legged toad; a dragon | Ring bells; in the 19th century the navy fired artillery |
| Korea | Bulgae, fire dogs from the kingdom of darkness | Not stated in the source |
| Visayan and Bicol (Philippines) | Bakunawa, the moon-eating dragon | Go out and strike bells and percussion hard in the streets or fields |
| Tagalog (Philippines) | Laho, a name derived from Rahu | Not stated in the source |
| Bagobo (Mindanao) | Minokawa, a giant bird with sword feathers | Scream, cry, beat gongs |
| Persia and Iran | The dragon Gochihr | Go up on the roof and beat metal vessels |
| Buryat (Siberia) | A bear | Not stated in the source |
| Dom (Middle East) | An ancestor who is owed money | Not stated in the source |
| Norse | A wolf (Fenrir) | Not stated in the source |
| Ancient Egypt | A sow (the Moon); a giant serpent (the sun god Ra) | Not stated in the source |
| Aztec | The jaguar god Tepeyollotl | Weep, raise war cries, sacrifice captives, offer blood from pierced ears |
| Maya | A jaguar, or a jaguar-like goddess | Not stated in the source |
| Cherokee | A giant frog | Not stated in the source |
| Choctaw | A black squirrel | Not stated in the source |
| Pomo (California) | A bear | Not stated in the source |
| Hupa (California) | The Moon's own pets (rattlesnakes, mountain lions) | Not stated in the source |
| Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth (Canada) | The mouth, or door, of heaven | Not stated in the source |
| Inca | A jaguar (eats the Moon) | Take spears and shout at the Moon |
What people do during an eclipse
If something is eating the sun, the obvious move is to chase it off. 9 cultures in our data make noise or use weapons. In China people rang bells to stop a dragon biting the Moon. Visayans go out and strike bells and percussion hard in the streets or fields. In parts of Iran people climbed onto rooftops and beat metal vessels to make the dragon let go. The Jukun of Nigeria beat drums to make the Sun release the Moon. The Inca took spears and shouted at the Moon, fearing that once the jaguar finished it off it would come down and eat every animal on Earth. The Bagobo scream, cry and beat gongs, afraid they will all be eaten next.
Some responses went further. The Aztecs wept, raised war cries, sacrificed captives and offered blood drawn through their pierced earlobes, fearing that in total darkness demons would come down to eat people. The Mesopotamians believed a lunar eclipse was the Moon under attack by 7 demons, and since the king stood for the land, the demons would attack him too. So they had someone pretend to be king and take the blow instead. After the eclipse, the stand-in king was made to disappear, possibly by poison.
Others choose stillness. The Navajo believe that during an eclipse the Sun or Moon is dying and being reborn, and some families still stay inside together, sing special songs and refrain from eating, drinking or sleeping. The Fon of Benin and the Tahitians avoid looking at the eclipse, reportedly not out of fear but out of modesty; both also say an eclipse is the Sun and the Moon coming together as lovers. Muslims perform the eclipse prayer, salat al-kusuf, until it passes.
The answer unlike any other comes from the Batammaliba of Togo and Benin. They believe an eclipse is the Sun and the Moon fighting, and the only way to stop it is for people on Earth to make peace first. So during an eclipse the community gathers to settle old feuds. In our data it is the only culture that answers an eclipse by reconciling rather than chasing something away.
The cultures that saw no eater
The other 16 cultures tell it differently. 5 see an eclipse as an omen or a sign from God or the gods: Jewish tradition, Islam, ancient Greece, Rome and medieval Christianity. 3 say the Sun and the Moon are in love: the Fon, the Tlingit and the Tahitians. 3 see the sun as sick or gone out: the Navajo, the Chippewa and Ojibwe, and the Aymara. 2 say the Sun and the Moon are fighting or catching each other: the Jukun and the Batammaliba. 2 more say the Moon is attacked or seized, without the source saying it is eaten: Mesopotamia and the Candima Sutta. And for the Hopi, the source says only that an eclipse is a time for ceremony.
Within this group, the Fon say the creator Mawu-Lisa split into Lisa, god of the Sun, and Mawu, god of the Moon, and an eclipse is the two of them making love. The Tlingit say the Sun and his wife the Moon need some time alone in the dark. Medieval Europe tied eclipses to the deaths of kings, such as the one before Charlemagne died. Plutarch linked the birth of Romulus, the founding of Rome and Romulus's death to 3 solar eclipses, though calculating back finds no eclipse on those dates. The ancient Greeks, meanwhile, knew the Earth was round from its shadow on the Moon during a lunar eclipse. And the Aymara of the Andes are reported to have lit bonfires on the hillsides to keep the Earth warm while the Sun was on sick leave.
What really lines up
Put all 37 cultures side by side and the most repeated picture is the sun or the moon being swallowed by something, found in 21 cultures on 5 continents. Many of those stories also explain why it comes back. The Hindu Rahu has no body, so it slips out through his throat; the Thai Rahu can't stand the heat and spits it out; Korea's Bulgae bites the Sun, finds it too hot to hold and lets go, and finds the Moon too cold. Only the Norse say that the day Fenrir truly swallows the Sun is the end of the world, Ragnarok. The other thing that repeats is the belief that people down below can help, with drums, gongs, bells, spears or flaming arrows, in 9 cultures.
Not what you might expect
A few things here may be new even to Thai readers. In the older versions of the moon-eating frog story, the frog is a good character misunderstood by the villagers. The Thai Rahu is cut through the middle, not at the neck as in Hinduism. Rahu's name travelled as far as the Philippines, where laho came to mean "to vanish". And in one hadith the Prophet Muhammad objects to treating an eclipse as an omen and says it does not happen because someone has died, the opposite of medieval Europe, which tied eclipses to the deaths of kings.
Back to the night of the eclipse
On nights when the moon turns orange-red, generations of Tai people came out to beat drums and gongs at the frog or at Rahu. On the same kind of night elsewhere, people have shouted at the sky with spears in the Andes, beaten pots on rooftops in Iran, prayed salat al-kusuf, or sat down to settle grudges with the neighbours in Togo and Benin. Next time the news says Rahu is swallowing the moon, see what the people around you still do.
Frequently asked
What does "Rahu swallowing the moon" mean, and which phenomenon is it?
It means an eclipse. In the old belief Rahu swallows the Sun or the Moon and then has to spit it out, which explains both solar and lunar eclipses. In English they are a solar eclipse and a lunar eclipse; in Sanskrit an eclipse is grahana.
What causes a lunar eclipse scientifically?
A lunar eclipse happens when the Moon passes through Earth's shadow. The ancient Greeks used the Earth's shadow seen on the Moon during a lunar eclipse as evidence that the Earth is round.
Does a lunar eclipse happen every year?
Yes. The 21st century has 228 lunar eclipses, an average of 2.28 a year, with at least two every year. Total lunar eclipses are less common than partial ones.
Why does the moon turn blood red during an eclipse?
While the Moon is in Earth's shadow, any sunlight reaching it must first pass through Earth's atmosphere, which makes the Moon look orange or red. In Inca myth, the Moon is red because a jaguar is eating it.
Why do people bang drums during an eclipse?
In Tai belief an eclipse is a frog trying to swallow the moon, so villagers beat drums and gongs, shout and set off firecrackers to startle it into spitting the moon out. In our data 9 cultures make noise or use weapons to drive the eater away.
Is it true you shouldn't go outside during an eclipse?
Our data doesn't yet include a Thai rule on this. What it does have: Hindu tradition treats an eclipse as a bad omen, with fasting for up to 6 hours beforehand and special care for pregnant women, and some Navajo families stay inside together without eating, drinking or sleeping until it passes.
Is Rahu really going to become a Buddha?
Thai Wikipedia cites the Anagatavamsa, in which the Buddha tells Sariputta that Rahu, lord of the asuras, will attain enlightenment in the future as a Buddha named Narada.
Sources for the traditions cited (18)
How we counted: 370 traditions from every continent, living and ancient, from sources in dozens of languages. One tradition, one vote, and only where a source confirms it. A tradition missing here is not evidence it lacks the belief, only that we found no document. Scriptural religions (Buddhist, Hindu, Chinese, Jewish, Christian, Muslim) are described in more detail than oral ones, and some records come through missionaries or outsiders. This page does not judge which belief is true.
Read next: Where astrology got its meanings (history) · Where do the Thai colours of the day come from? The myths behind Thai fortune-telling · The Chinese Zodiac Race: Why the Rat Won, Where the Cat Went, and Who Swaps Which Animal · The Myths Behind the 12 Star Signs: the Golden Ram, Hera's Crab, Orion's Scorpion and the 13th Sign · Who Gave Humans Divination? 52 Origin Myths from 29 Cultures, and Where Tarot Really Came From
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