Blood Moon
IBTimes UK

The final Blood Moon of the year is fast approaching and so are the total lunar eclipse and the Jewish festival Sukkot.

The rare celestial event will be visible in most parts of the US during the early morning of Wednesday, 8 October.

The Blood Moon event has given rise to a flood of doomsday prophecies on the internet.

These theories were fuelled by the fact that this is the second such event in the 'tetrad' which refers to a series of four total lunar eclipses with six full moons in between.

According to Christian pastor John Hagee, the current event signifies the soon to come apocalypse as the first two Blood Moons coincided with the Passover and the Feast of Tabernacle.

In his book Four Blood Moons: Something Is About to Change, Hagee tries to give credence to his predictions by citing examples of catastrophic events in Jewish history including the Spanish Inquisition and Israel's War of Independence, coinciding with lunar tetrads in 1492 and 1948.

However, Nasa scientist and Jewish observant Jeremy Schnittman has dismissed these theories and asked people to enjoy the rare celestial event that occurs on 8 October.

"Every night when you go outside on the first night of Sukkot, it is going to be a full moon. And every lunar eclipse happens during a full moon," Schnittman told the St Louis Jewishlight. "On average there are two lunar eclipses every year. The chance of having a lunar eclipse on Sukkot is one in six."

The Nasa scientist also dismissed the superstitions. "If there's one on Sukkot, then there's a very high chance that there will be one on Pesach," Schnittman said on the website.

"There's been a lot of hubbub about 'Four Blood Moons' in a row. It's actually quite reasonable that you are going to get them again every six months for the next couple of years before the cycle moves a little bit out of alignment."

Meanwhile, social media is abuzz with users expressing their excitement about the rare coincidence of the total lunar eclipse and the Jewish festival of Sukkot.

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