“Ordinary people were much more aware of the heavenly bodies than they are today. It is artificial lighting, in street and house, which has made us less conscious of their endless mutations. Few dwellers in large cities now know what the current phase of the moon may be, and an eclipse will pass unnoticed by all save professional astronomers. But in the pre-industrial world men carried torches to light their way and arranged their journeys to coincide with a full moon.”

— Keith Thomas, Religion and the Decline of Magic

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