So much mythology, superstitions & songs....
Once upon a time, in a land not far away, but long ago, before electric light & batteries the light of the full moon was valued in a way that its hard to appreciate now. We did not have to travel far from the urban centres to find dark skies & our land did not appear like circuit boards from above. We were much more aware of the seasons & cycles, in many ways our work and activity was intensely restricted by them, natural deadlines. The full moon nearest to the Autumn Equinox is known as the Harvest moon as this natural ambient light allowed for extra time in gathering & working the land, which made a difference in laying in the stores for the winter, traditionally gathered in before halloween. Tracking the path of the sun & the moon in order to be able to predict natural patterns. Which is why there are so many superstitions, old wives tales & songs relate to this.
Observing the moon's shape, noticing when it rises & sets in relation to the sun will show specifically what phase its in. This would have been as natural to country living folk in the past as knowing what day it is & how to read a clock is now.
In traditional terms a blue moon is a 4th full moon in a season. If there were 3 full moons in each of the 4 seasons, this would account for 12 moons, but there is a little bit of time left over which occasionally means we have an "extra" moon in the season - the blue moon. This explanation is determined by the seasons & therefore the extra blue moon occurs just before the turn of the season - November, February, May or August.
We no longer have the same attachment to the seasons & natural cycles as we once had. Our very survival doesn't depend on us getting the crop in, gathered and stored before certain seasonal changes as we can get exotic fruits & out of season veg at almost any time. We are now much more aware of which calendar month it is rather than which moon phase in relation to the season. There is a second explanation for the blue moon - which yields slighty different dates. This new interpretation is that a blue moon is a second full moon in the month. There are traditional names for each months moon & if there is a second one it is a blue moon.
The 2009 New Year's Eve full moon was the second in the month, a blue moon by the recent interpretation rather than the traditional description. Made extra special by the eclipse, the time off & the celebration of the New Year.
It was a lovely clear crispy night, great conditions for skywatching. I hope you were influenced by all the mythology, superstitions & songs and that you cultured the spirit of romance & opportunity..... For those who like to read signs, the mythos of the blue moon, really is that anything can happen, open yourself to the opportunity...
There is of course cases when the moon has seemed to become blue - this was usualy die to particles in the atmosphere, for example after Krakatoa erupted the moon appeared blue for 2 years, a different sign entirely eh?
I love to believe that every 3 years or so, there is a full moon, which makes us believe that anything is possible!
No comments:
Post a Comment