Moonbows and Sacred Light at Cumberland Falls in Kentucky
Moonbow at Cumberland Falls
For three days last week, I camped at Cumberland Falls with my partner Dave. We went to hike and see moonbows. The area is so remarkable that it warrants a few posts. This first one will focus only on the moonbows. This first image is closest to how you actually see it with the naked eye. Moonbow are created just like rainbows, from light being reflected and refracted by droplets of moisture. The moon, since it is so much less bright than the sun, has to be in exactly the right spot for moonbows to form. The best places to see moonbows are Yosemite National Park in California, Cumberland Falls State Resort Park in Kentucky, Victoria Falls between Zambia and Zimbabwe in Africa, Waimea in Hawaii, and Plitvice Lakes in Croatia. They occur for a few days every month at Cumberland Falls, as long as the skies are clear. The naked eye perceives a swath of white light that in itself is impressive. Periodically I thought I could detect very faint traces of color. But when you photograph the moonbows with a very slow shutter speed, the colors are apparent. It is quite a mystical experience and I could understand why Native Americans who first visited this site would think it was a very spiritual place. In the summer, the moonbows occur very late at night and the colors are usually faint. During the winter months, they occur much earlier and with more intense colors. When we were there, the times you could see them were 11:30-1:30 am on the first night, 12:30-2:30 on the second night, and 1:30-3:30 on the last night.
Moonbow with a Faint Second One
While we were watching the waterfall sometimes produced enough mist that was carried by the wind in the right direction to create the hint of a second rainbow. The last night we were there, the rainbows were very pronounced, even to the naked eye. I tried to look up the significance of this area to early Native Americans and only found a couple of references that went beyond they lived in caves 10,000 years ago and that early indigenous people also came to this sight. In another post published by Deep South USA on Cumberland Falls, I learned that the Shawnee, Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Creek nations often used the area for hunting camps as early as 1650.
One reference I found was by Quiet Buck, a minister of YHWH. In his blog, he wrote:
“This physical geological and Native American spiritual wonder at Cumberland Falls Kentucky came in the universal light form of the Moonbow and was given to all Real Human Beings by the Great Spirit and the Elder Fires Above as a distinct sign of deliverance in the configuration of a great sacred spiritual endeavor to always remind the people that the Great Spirit and Elder Fires Above would never forget them and will always be with them forevermore, in times of darkness and times of light, as according to the rotating Cherokee/Shawnee calendar wheel commonly today mistakenly called the “Medicine Wheel“.
For within the luminous bow itself was seen the ever presence of the Great Spirit who blessed the people and the Land of the Thunderbolt, the Land of Lightning, the land of the Cherokee/Shawnee People, where the Great Spirit led his people to inhabit many years ago during the times of migration from South America. But even before the coming of the Shawnee and Cherokee people to the area many other Native Indian Nations living there also revered Cumberland Falls and the Moonbeam as a consecrated area seeking the same blessings and power from it…Many medicine and holy people worked many wonders at Cumberland Falls relying on the power of the Great Spirit, the blessing from the Moonbow, and the spiritual singing of the Waters called Ta-Eachee or Hand of the Long Man.” (Here is a link to the bog post: https://quietbuck.wordpress.com/2012/10/01/the-moonbow/)
Standing in the presence of these falls as the light did something I have never witnessed before, it was easy to imagine how Native Americans believed it embodied and/or was created by the presence of the Great Spirit. Though the scientific explanations make complete sense, when you are standing there it does seem magical and it touched my heart and soul in a spiritual way. My first memories are of sunbeams dancing my crib and I have always been drawn to the light, as so many people seem to be. Whenever I experience light in the midst of darkness or dark times, it is even more powerful. For me, it helps keep hope alive.
Moonbow and a Sliver of the Falls
When we went there on the last night, it was so late there weren’t many people at all and no annoying flashes (which don’t work at all and actually obliterate the moonbows) were going off. I was able to do an even longer exposure and people standing below were also light painting the area. It was interesting to see the rocks lining the water illuminated under the moonbow.
Moonbow with Rocky Shoreline
When we went back in the morning, we were able to see a rainbow during the daylight, which was also quite special and pronounced.
Rainbow, Cumberland Falls
Though I am happy this area is a State Park and can be visited by people, I was disturbed that it was difficult to find out more about the significance of this area to Native Americans and I hope to learn more in the future. I did come across one poem called “The Children of Moonbow Falls” (https://www.firstpeople.us/html/The-Children-of-Moonbow-Falls.html). The site contains American Indian poems and prayers. This particular sonnet was written in 2003 by a white man, Albert Gazley, about the slaughter of 100 innocent children on their way to a Christian school. It ends with this verse about Cornblossom, who came too late with her Thunderbolt braves:
“..true believers can hear her say:
"Remember my children" in a soft and mournful way
And as her spirit gestures amidst the mist and wet
"Remember My People -We're not conquered yet."
So many of what today are our National and State Parks are on grounds that were sacred to the first people who inhabited our lands. Earlier this year, I read an interesting and compelling article by David Treuer about why we should return the National Parks to the Tribes in The Atlantic (https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/05/return-the-national-parks-to-the-tribes/618395/)
Whether this will happen or not, when I am in places that I know are steeped in indigenous history, I want to learn more about all the things I was never taught in school, and I also pay my respects to those who loved and cared for these places before me.