New in the collection: Cherokee eclipse-watching kit

Cherokee drum marking eclipse

Cherokee eclipse glasses

 

The cardboard shades were pretty much standard issue for watching the 2017 total solar eclipse, but the noisemaker is specific to Cherokee legend.

Tribal storyteller Mike Crowe of the Museum of the Cherokee Indian told Blue Ridge Public Radio, “A long time ago, whenever there was an eclipse, they had an explanation for this. The frog would come up, and he would swallow the sun. They would come out and bang the drum and make loud noise and this would frighten the frog away. After a time, things would return to normal. Everything would be okay.”

Video of the eclipse watch  in Cherokee, including a brief but apparently successful demonstration of frog-frightening.