THE SOUTHWORTH PLANETARIUM
207-780-4249 www.usm.maine.edu/planet
70 Falmouth Street Portland, Maine 04103
43.6667° N, 70.2667° W
Founded January 1970
"There once was a man from Devizes.
whose ears were of two different sizes.
One was small, and no good at all.
The other was large and won prizes."
THE DAILY ASTRONOMER
Thursday, March 17, 2016
The Irish King's Amulet
Nobody has noticed it, yet. Not in all these years. One can hardly be
surprised that it hasn't attracted attention. We deliberately set it low
on the dome wall, amongst the lower shadows where patrons hardly ever cast
a glance. Yet, there it lurks Banquo-like against the midnight-black
mesh-work An amulet, admittedly rather cheap, but in its own way
resplendent: a sun encircled by flaming triangles, its benign facade cast
in a faint smile. Anthropomorphic aluminum communicating gentle cheer.
It dangles along a thin silver chain that, if worn around the neck, would
likely snap with the first stifled sneeze. Gaudy? Perhaps. But, this
amulet was a gift given directly to the Southworth Planetarium by an eighth
century Irish King named Dluthach mac Fitcheallach. Now, might wonder how
an early Medieval Irish king could bestow a present onto our planetarium
more than 1,200 years before it was even an impure impulse in Portland's
loins. (Portland's birth, itself, was more than 900 years in the future.)
The answer was written on yellowed paper and enclosed in an envelope that a
stranger slid under our door in August 1998. "MY dear, good sir or
madam,
"Please find enclosed in this envelope $2.32 American. It is a
gift presented to you from Dluthach mac Fitcheallach, eighth century king
of the Irish kingdom of Ui Maine. I present it to you with joy and good
will and with the hope that it imparts a measure of richness onto your life.
"Allow me to tell you the story of how this present came into your
life. Though history knows him not, Dluthach mac Fitcheallach was, by his
time period's standards, kindly, though partial to solitude and private
study. His two most ardent passions were contemplations of sky and acts
of charity, the latter performed in the strictest secrecy. It was his
custom to send agents to the poorest peoples homes and leave largess.
These beneficent missions were always performed at new moon, when the night
scape was darkest and the agents were most easily concealed. He tabulated
a moon chart for this purpose as it was also his custom to draft sky charts
and private almanacs over which he would nightly ruminate. These, alas,
are lost to us. "Over time, Dluthach mac Fitcheallach surmised the
existence of a lunar cycle we now call the 'Saros.' As you are aware, I am
sure, lunar phase cycles and eclipses repeat with a periodicity called the
Saros, a time period equal to 6,585 days, or 18 years, 11 days and 8
hours. There are many such cycles know today, but in the early 8th
century, the mystery of moon motion was revealed to precious few.
Dluthach mac Fitcheallach was one of these select sky watchers.
"Miraculously, he predicted the beginning of another, starting
precisely in June 736 AD..during his reign. It is said that in the
previous winter he dreamt that Phoebe, the Moon goddess, emerged from a
luminous pool in a distant wield. She whispered to him of the lunar
cycle's birth and while enshrouding him with filaments of intertwined
heather and wheat, an old crone presented him with one half a loaf of
bread. She cast the other half into the meadow and from it an expansive
barley field sprouted. "After waking, the king devised a plan over
many months and then gathered the four people in his inner circle. He said
to them thus, 'I present you each with a chest of riches. You are to open
them tomorrow when the Moon passes into an invisible eclipse. One half of
the contents you, yourself, shall keep. In eighteen years, you must give
the other half to another whom you deem worthy of it. You are to instruct
them that they are to keep half of the riches and, in nearly 18 years -when
Moon passes into another unseen eclipse- they, too, must present the other
half to a person they deem worthy. That recipient must also wait for 18
years and then impart half of the remaining riches to a worthy person.
But, I caution that you must abide by the schedule that I will present to
you. Given enough time, I can calculate a list of dates with the
treasures that can be copied and passed along to each recipient.'
"The king then continued, 'I hope this present brings a measure of
richness to your life. But, I caution you to only keep half and then give
away the other half at the next moon cycle date. This cycle will persist
for 1,200 years or near...if, at each eclipse in this cycle, the gift is
halved and given away, these four acts of generosity I present now shall
divide themselves into thousands.' Only at the end, when the Moon is also
in unseen eclipse, will the final gift be given whole.'
"The king died in obscurity and by all accounts the four first
recipients abided by his instructions. On the date he specified, they gave
half of their riches to others who, themselves, did the same at the next
eclipse 18 years 11 days later. Over time, as far as I can tell, gifts
halved themselves repeatedly....each division and endowment occurring at
each eclipse in the Saros cycle. I know little of where the money has
gone, though I do know that it helped to fund a Norwegian festival during
the cycle's first total lunar eclipse in April 1241; and in October 1547,
the time of the cycle's last total lunar eclipse, built a Atlantic faring
boat in Portugal. I, myself, received it in July 1980. I helped an old
African man along a cross walk in Los Angeles and when we reached the
sidewalk, he presented me with an envelope enclosing $4.64 and his own
letter, similar to this one. At the end, he wrote, 'The next one is the
last one. The cycle ends in 1998.'
"I thought about where to send the other half. I finally decided on
your facility, as it houses moon watchers and is in Maine: the new world
region named for the Ui Maine kingdom that Dluthach mac Fitcheallach once
ruled. Well, at least I heard it was named for that ancient Irish kingdom.
Here is your money. Spend it all. The last of the Saros Cycle 109
eclipses, a penumbral eclipse is one that, like the ones at the cycle's
beginning, isn't visible. It occurs tomorrow on August 8, 1998. The cycle
perishes and so, too, does the sequence of dividing generosities that
Dluthach mac Fitcheallach begat. "I wish you good health.
-Anonymous."
The director at the time picked up the envelope, read the contents, and
tossed it on a distant shelf, fearing it to be a crackpot donation. There
it languished until the early 21st century, when we found it and perused
the contents. We decided to venture down to a nearby shop and with the
money bought an amulet costing a total of $2.25. "You may keep the
change for yourself," we told the young female cashier, handing her the
eight cents. "It is a benevolent gift given to you by an Irish King."
"Gee......" the cashier said, eyeing the nickel and three pennies
covetously. We brought the amulet into the dome and quickly
found an obscure place for it: diametrically opposed from the luminescent
star dome goddess who is presently perched on a back platform. In shadow,
the eighth century Irish King's gift remains to this day. It will smile at
you if you happen to see it. Then again, nobody has seen it, yet.