Pregnant women and lunar eclipse

By Abbas Naqvi and Maliha Rehman

KARACHI: Superstitious women across Karachi are preparing to bundle their pregnant daughters-in-law inside the house on the night between Saturday and Sunday (March 3-4) when a lunar eclipse is expected to take place.

“I did not take any precautions when I was pregnant during a lunar eclipse,” lamented Sabeeh. “I cut an apple even though I had been warned not to touch any sharp objects; My son was born with a missing finger.” Another woman, Anaya, attended a wedding during a lunar eclipse, even though she was pregnant. Her son was born healthy but he had permanent, large, brown, marks across his abdomen.

Both Sabeeh and Anaya, along with many others, staunchly believe in the detrimental powers of eclipses. “Pregnant women have to be very cautious during an eclipse, lunar or solar,” informs 55 year old Fatima Rizvi. “They should lie down straight and not venture outdoors for the entire duration of the eclipse.”

One of the most frightening superstitions is that if a pregnant woman uses a knife to cut something during a lunar eclipse, her baby will be born with a harelip. Others believe that if a pregnant woman goes outside, under the open sky, during the eclipse, her child will be born with some kind of deformity. “I didn’t believe in these things,” gynaecologist Dr Tasneem Kausar told Daily Times Friday. “But when I was eight months pregnant, I went to my roof where construction was taking place during a lunar eclipse and made a mark on the wall. When my son was born a month later, he had exactly the same mark on his belly.” In fact, Kausar claimed that her son was born with deformed hands that were twisted in the same position her hands were in when she made the mark.

Senior gynaecologist Dr Kishwar Fatima pooh-poohed these claims. “If a baby is born with a harelip it is only because the mother was deficient in folic acid,” she said. “Also, abnormalities are genetic problems and have nothing to do with a lunar eclipse.”

Fatima did, however, admit that she believed people suffered from mood swings during a full moon. “Moonlight affects the sea’s tide and our bodies are made up of 70 percent water, so in my personal opinion this does make a difference,” she added. Nonetheless, whether she believes a lunar eclipse affects pregnant women or not, the superstition is so widespread that during those times patients avoid coming to her hospital. But for those women who would rather not take the risk, astrologer Mohammad Muazzam Khan, who studied palmistry in Nepal, recommends that they wear moonstone or make a ‘doodh ka sadqa’ (sacrifice of milk). “The perceptions about lunar eclipses, pregnant women and childbirth are not mere superstition but genuine fact as the event does actually affect health, especially in children,” he told Daily Times. While a lunar eclipse doesn’t affect general horoscopes, it can affect the health of the mother and child.

Gynaecologist Dr Sher Shah of Qatar Hospital said that all the old wives tales about lunar eclipses were “nonsense” that had been passed down generation to generation. In his experience, he said the problem was that pregnant women who require medical attention during an eclipse are too afraid to go to their doctor. This caused more damage than the lunar eclipse.

His claim is backed by Astrophysics researcher Syed Kaiser Hussain, who claims to have created the world’s smallest eternal solar calendar and the first absolute dated lunar/Hijree calendar of the world. “A lunar eclipse is just a part of our universe’s system just as there is night and day and medically and scientifically there is no proof that it will have any effect on a pregnant woman,” he said.

It is a solar eclipse, that is far more dangerous than a lunar eclipse, opined Gazdarabad Maternity Home and General hospital’s Dr Shabeen Naz Masood.

“During a solar eclipse it is possible for a child to be affected,” she said. “I’ve experienced it; Their hands and feet can be deformed.

A gynecologist at Aga Khan University Hospital, Dr Sameera, stressed that this was all superstition. Her opinion was seconded by pediatrician Dr Syed Mohsin Ahmed. “They have no foundation whatsoever in science,” he said.

However, many believe it is better to be safe than sorry and most pregnant women choose to endure a few hours of discomfort and boredom rather than listen to their doctors and regret it later. “I lay straight for two hours,” recalled Sara, who was seven months pregnant at the time of a lunar eclipse. “My mother-in-law refused to let me lie on my side. She was so paranoid that she even disallowed me from using my cellular phone, saying that the electromagnetic rays pass from under the moon before they reach my phone!”

A partial solar eclipse will be visible from Pakistan at the time of sunrise on March 19. It will begin at 05.39 hours and end at 09.25 hours, according to SUPARCO.

With additional reporting by Zar Nageen and Zainab Imam

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