CFS Director and Archivist Dr. Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth gave an interview with Ohio State News to celebrate the upcoming eclipse on April 8th. In the article, Dr. Waugh-Quasebarth provides a survey of folklore motifs used to explain eclipses – from the sun being consumed by a creature to the sun being sad – and reflects on his own folkloric experience during the 2017 solar eclipse. Read the Ohio State News article, "Eclipse folk tales show different relationships between people and the sun," to learn more about how folklore on eclipses may demonstrate a human longing to understand the phenomenon.
“[The stories are about] finding a moment of common humanity with a celestial body, which I think is a way that people have historically related to those elements of our world – the sun and the moon, in particular." - Jasper Waugh-Quasebarth
