India’s Folktale & Nigeria’s Folktale

In India, the Santali people believed that the Creator, Marang Buru, made the Sun disappear for a set time each day so that everyone would sleep when it was dark. The Creator invented the Moon to shine dim so that most could sleep & others could still work & see the world around them. In Nigeria, the Efik people believed that the Sun & the Moon lived on Earth together. The Sun was great friends with the Water, but Water would never visit Sun’s home. They all agreed to build a home so big that Water could visit. However, the Sun miscalculated & Water ended up pushing the Sun & the Moon into the sky. They have been in the sky ever since.

Korea’s Folktale

In Korea, there was a poor woman with her children. She sold rice cakes as her job & came home one day to find a tiger called Holangi in a hungry state of mind. Holangi was hostile & told her he would eat her unless she gave him a rice cake. As time went by, Holangi demanded more until she had none left. The tiger ate the woman, dressed himself to pose as her, & pretended he was the mother. The woman’s children knew the tiger wasn’t their mother, as his tail gave himself away. The children prayed to the heavens to climb a rope to get away from Holangi & they did.

The Capture & Fission Theories

In 1909, Thomas See theorized that Earth captured a celestial object due to Earth’s gravity. This object started to orbit Earth, which we call the Moon. In 1878, George Darwin theorized that because Earth spun so fast, a chunk broke off & became the Moon. However, this theory was thrown out because the rock from the Moon is vastly different than Earth’s Pacific oceanic crust.

The Accretion & Initial Giant Impact Theories

In 1873, Edouard Roche theorized that dust particles ran into each other, & due to gravity, pulled smaller rocks into it, until both the Moon & Earth were formed. This theory does not explain why the Moon orbits Earth. In the Initial Giant Impact theory, a planet named Theia clashed into Earth & many pieces were blasted off, which created the Moon.

Fun Facts
⊱ The folktale from Korea was told since the thirteenth century.
⊱ Both the Moon & Earth have the exact ratio of isotopes of oxygen.
⊱ When Theia & Earth clashed, both cores merged, which is the reason why the Moon does not have iron.
⊱ Haesik, the son, became the Sun and Dalsun, the daughter, became the Moon in the Korean folktale.