Solar Eclipse and Misapprehensions Around It

It is surprising and irritating to me when even well-educated people will hold on to superstitions rather than argue scientific facts. The most recent thing that brought this up was the solar eclipse of this morning. It is common knowledge that one should not look directly at a solar eclipse; however, the reasons for this are usually not well understood among the general population (at least in India). The way people tell it, something magical/evil happens to the light of the sun and it destroys eyes. Apparently food also spoils more easily/quickly during a solar eclipse! Ever since I was a child, I didn't like the explanation for why a solar eclipse would hurt one's eyes. After all, there is less light during a solar eclipse, so how does it magically become more harmful? Looking directly at the sun is a bad idea at any time, how does it get so much worse during a solar eclipse. When pressed for explanations, people would talk falteringly about the greater amount of UV rays, and/or the "quality of light" being different etc. None of the explanations I'd heard seemed to make sense. The moon isn't a large enough celestial object to affect the sun's light by its gravitational pull (not that I understand enough physics to know how, if at all, the gravitational pull of a body can affect light other than to bend it), so what was going on? I surmised that the real harm comes from otherwise (i.e., without parental warnings for as long as one can remember) being fooled into thinking from the darkness of a solar eclipse (especially a full eclipse) that it was safe to look at it with the naked, unprotected eye. Turns out I was very close to the truth—this is what Wikipedia's article on solar eclipses has to say on viewing the eclipse:

Under normal conditions, the Sun is so bright that it is difficult to stare at it directly, so there is no tendency to look at it in a way that might damage the eye. However, during an eclipse, with so much of the Sun covered, it is easier and more tempting to stare at it. Unfortunately, looking at the Sun during an eclipse is just as dangerous as looking at it outside an eclipse, except during the brief period of totality, when the Sun's disk is completely covered (totality occurs only during a total eclipse and only very briefly; it does not occur during a partial or annular eclipse). Viewing the Sun's disk through any kind of optical aid (binoculars, a telescope, or even an optical camera viewfinder) is never recommended and is extremely hazardous. Glancing at the Sun with all or most of its disk visible is unlikely to result in permanent harm, as the pupil will close down and reduce the brightness of the whole scene. If the eclipse is near total, the low average amount of light causes the pupil to open. Unfortunately the remaining parts of the Sun are still just as bright, so they are now brighter on the retina than when looking at a full Sun. As the eye has a small fovea, for detailed viewing, the tendency will be to track the image on to this best part of the retina, causing damage.

So that is that! Nothing magical happens to the sun or its light. Thank you Wikipedia! I love science and the scientific way.