Darkness At Noon

The last total eclipse of the 20th century came to pass Wednesday, across Europe to the Bay of Bengal, as the moon blacked out the light of the sun.

In Cornwall, at the southwest tip of England, heavy clouds made the two-minute spectacle invisible to hundreds of thousands who had come to watch.

But in London, revelers filled Hyde Park and gazed skyward for clouded - but visible - eclipse of 96.5 percent of the sun's rays.

An eclipse watcher follows the action with protective glasses in London's Hyde Park.

Thousands crammed the streets of Ramnicu Valcea, the south-central city in Romania where the spectacle could be seen the longest (2 minutes and 23 seconds). Hundreds more made the trek to a half-dried-up salt lake just outside the city, munching on barbecued prawns and steak as they prepared for an unimpeded view of the eclipse.

"We are a bit scared," said Silvia Popa, a 44-year-old accountant, reflecting age-old Balkan superstitions connected with the sun's disappearance. "They say after an eclipse, there is either a storm or a cataclysm."

For some, it was a spiritual phenomenon. Thousands of Iranians and tourists poured into the majestic central square of Isfahan, the city that NASA said afforded the best viewing of the eclipse in the world.

As the sun was blotted out, the crowd erupted in whistles, applause and shouts of "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest).

The sun is partially obscured above London's Hyde Park.

In Jerusalem, a city where omens, portents and apocalyptic visions are practically a local industry, the eclipse is capturing the imagination of mystics of all stripes.

For apocalyptic Christians who have been flocking to Jerusalem in anticipation of the millennium, Wednesday's celestial display - although not a complete eclipse -- was offering fresh confirmation that the end is nigh.

"The eclipse goes together with everything else in the sky. To me, it means that something is coming about," said a 27-year-old Seattle man who gave only his first nam, Raymond.

"The Bible says there will be signs in the heavens," said Sharon, a 50-something woman from Sacramento, Calif., one of a group of several dozen Christian pilgrims who have settled on the Mount of Olives to await the second coming of Christ.

A Cornish druid dances to keep the rain away before Wednesday's eclipse.

In India, the last country in the path of the eclipse, scientific facts of the event are not puncturing ancient village beliefs.

"Pregnant women must not leave their homes or the newborn will be blind," priest Arjan Maharaj told villagers in Bhirandiara, 620 miles northwest of Bombay. "Anyone holding a knife or ax during the eclipse will cut himself."

To many Indians, the eclipse symbolizes the demon dragon Rahu gobbling up the sun. According to mythology, Rahu deceived the gods and had his head sliced off. The demon's head is thought to resurface once every few years to devour the sun god.

Believers say danger from the eclipse passes only when the sun emerges from Rahu's head. Until this time, nobody eats or drinks, and cooked food is thrown away for fear of contamination from poisonous rays.

Apocalyptic portents have even taken hold in Mexico, where the government has warned the people that it's only an eclipse of the sun, not the end of the world.

"There is absolutely no scientific evidence that eclipses are related to, or associated with, disasters or catastrophes," the Interior Ministry, responsible for internal security, said in a press release issued late Sunday.

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Still, the government denial might be taken as a signal that trouble really is brewing, the daily newspaper Reforma said in an editorial Monday.

Pope John Paul II views the eclipse through a special glass.

From Land's End, England, the moon's shadow dashed Wednesday at 1,522 miles per hour across parts of France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia, Hungary, Romania, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan, turning day to night across a path 60 miles wide, before sinking at sunset in the Bay of Bengal.

Eclipse-watchers in cloudy Cornwall, England, turn their gaze toward the sky.

The next total solar eclipse will be in 2001 over southern Africa.