Shooting stars make a spectacular sight in the night sky. I saw one last week, when I was going out eat with a couple of friends. None of us seemed to be able to trace the history behind shooting stars and wishing upon them, so I thought I owe this post to my blog.
Shooting star symbolizes a brief fleeting moment in ones life just like the brief wonder of seeing a shooting star race across the night sky. They can also be a symbol of reaching ones ultimate destiny.
Shooting stars, asteroids, and the movement of the heavenly bodies in the night sky have always fascinated to humans. Some cultures have always had strong beliefs and superstitions in the meaning of shooting stars. Traditionally shooting stars also meant a new birth and changes in ones life and also a wish for a better life.
In old Greece falling stars were believed to be rising or falling human souls. Aristophanes spoke of "souls of poor people, drunkenly walking home after they had dinner at a rich star". According to Jewish and Christian tradition fallen stars reflect fallen angels and demons.
Nowadays, in certain parts of Asia people believe a falling star is a bad omen: the "tears from the moon about the lost sun bride" would predict war, death or demise of a close person. According to more common belief though, it's a good omen, because when one makes a wish when one sees a falling star, the wish will come true.
In Europe at the time when the Greek astronomer Ptolemy's view of the cosmos as a universe of interlocking spheres became the orthodoxy, there was a widely accepted and very poetic explanation for "falling stars" which was entirely consistent with other deeply held beliefs of the time.
It was thought that the gods, overwhelmed with curiosity, would sometimes look at the earth from between the spheres, and that in that instant a star or two might slip through the gap and become visible as a falling or shooting star. Since the gods were clearly peering down at that very moment, it was considered an excellent opportunity to voice one's wishes with the guarantee that the gods would hear them.
This is probably where the idea of wishing on a falling or shooting star comes from.
Personally, I became familiar with the wishing-upon-a-shooting-star-concept because of a Bollywood movie! (No prizes for guessing.) The first time I saw a shooting star was two year ago, at my hometown in Indonesia. It was a fascinating sight, but I can’t remember what I had wished for, so I can’t claim if it came true! ^_^
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