Re: The Power of the Sauce Pan
That's funny, because in medieval Vietnam, banging pots and pans was considered a very important ritual. It was used whenever a lunar or solar eclipse occurred, which in medieval Vietnamese thinking represented a celestial dragon devouring the sun/moon. It was thought that by having everyone go out of their houses to bang the pots and pans, the dragon would be frightened and spit out the celestial body.
In fact, more than a few royal astrologers were severely punished when they failed to predict upcoming eclipses. The kings worried that this failure could lead to a situation in which the dragon devoured the sun or moon, and life as we know it would come to an end.
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