The reason last night's moon is the Super Harvest Moon is because it happened with 24 hours of the autumnal equinox (first official day of fall, marked by the sun's relationship to the earth's equator). Actually, if you want to get really technical, the autumnal equinox is a "time" not a full day, but hey, we always like to make events a full day. It's better for celebrating, after all.
The Super Harvest Moon occurred this year only 5 1/2 hours after the autumnal equinox.
BUT.
Every year has a "harvest moon" and it is the full moon closest to the first day of fall. Sometimes it happens before that day, sometimes after.
Why is it called the harvest moon? Because it's light is so bright that it allows farmers to work later into the night - by moonlight - and get their crops harvested before time ran out and winter set in.
When I was checking my facts (yes, I do that... I'd hate to be spouting an old wives tale to my friends out in cyber-space), I discovered other random tidbits... check it out:
- The Harvest Moon occurs in September most of the time, but occasionally occurs in October, about once every 3-4 years.
- The full moon has a name (different depending on the culture) for every month...January = Wolf Moon, February = Snow Moon, March = Worm Moon, April = Pink Moon, May = Flower Moon, June = Strawberry Moon, July = Buck Moon, August = Sturgeon Moon, September = Harvest Moon, October = Hunter's Moon, November = Beaver Moon, December = Cold Moon.
- Contrary to popular believe, a "Blue Moon", as in "once in a blue moon" is not blue, nor is it called that because it is the full moon that occurs second in a month that already had a full moon. No, it is the third full moon of a "season" of four full moons.
Back to our regularly scheduled programming.... tomorrow...
Sing with me... "bluuuuuue mooooon... you saw me standing alooooone... without a dream in my heeaaarrrrt... without a love of my ooooowwwwnnnnnn...."
You are a NUT case...enjoyed the moon right along with you..xxox
ReplyDeleteThe explanation of why it is called a harvest moon makes TOTAL sense to me. Being that I spent most of that night awake, unable to breathe, I was amazed that it did not LOOK like the night sky at all, but more like a heavily cloudy day or early dusk. It was pretty darn bright outside my bedroom window!
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! My local pub is called the Harvest Moon, but I never knew what a harvest moon was! So we are now officially in Autumn? That would explain the weather!
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