By now I'm sure you've heard that we will have a "Blue Moon" tonight, New Years Eve. How cool is that? We not only get a new year and a new decade but we get an extra moon...a blue moon...to boot!
We use the term Blue Moon more often nowadays than the names of the other twelve moons. The Harvest Moon is probably the second best known. There's the Hunter Moon and the Gibbous Moon. Are you surprised to know that the Egg Moon is around Easter?
The moon won't really be blue. That only happens, well, once in a blue moon. To make the moon appear truly blue you need an atmospheric influence like, say, the eruption of Krakatoa in 1883. But this "extra moon" is called a Blue Moon. Back when the calendar was aligned with the seasons and based on the phases of the moon (moon = month) folks planted and harvested crops based on the appearance of the Early, Mid or Late Moon in a season. Based on the calendar year, a Blue Moon (or a month with two moons) comes along about every 2.8 years more or less. That extra moon (or the third moon in a season with four if you prefer the seasonal way of doing things) was called a Blue Moon so as not to have to rename the Late Moon. That doesn't make them quite as rare as a truly blue moon but still...a Blue Moon on New Years Eve hasn't happened since 1990 and won't happen again until 2028.
So tonight we have an extra full moon, the second one of December 2009. Heaven knows we can certainly use a little something 'extra' to make 2009 memorable for more than loss, economic hardship, wars, crazy folks and ne'er-do-wells.
I'll take a beautiful full moon on the very last night of the year and hope it bodes well for us all. Here's hoping your blue moon turns to gold in 2010 - just like the song says!
Reference: Folklore of the "Blue Moon"
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Sarah, thanks for an enjoyable read and a song performed by one of my favorite singers.
Thank you for the well wishes and I'm looking forward seeing that blue moon tonight
Make a 10 out of 2010~~~Happy New Year!
SarahGray, thank you for the reminder. Happy New Year.
Yes, I think the combination of End of Year/End of Decade/Blue Moon is especially magical.
Farmers Almanac has a page with full moon names for every month. One of my favorite names is in January: The Wolf Moon.
May everyone has a prosperous and joyous 2010!!!
Sarah~great post, an enjoyable read. Happy New Year!
HAPPY NEW YEAR to you. I hope it is a prosperous one indeed.
It is cool that today is the blue moon. I don't think that will happen again for a while.
shelton
Sarah,
Pretty neat that tonight will be a blue moon....Happy New Year!
Man, talk about an old memory. There was a1950's group Wiley and Gene from Oklahoma. Their song that Gene wrote, "When my Blue Moon turns to Gold again", was covered by Elivis and a lot of others. Thanks for the memories.
Maria - Hard to beat Ella!
Fernando - Since we are both on the East Coast I hope we GET to see it! The clouds are looming...
Frank - Maybe someday we will harness the tides to generate power! ;-)
Cheryl - Great link! I LOVE seeing the American Indian names for the moons. Thanks!
Jen - Glad you enjoyed it! Thank you!
Will - I'm going with the auspiciousness of it all!
Shelton - You would be right! 2028
Lori - Glad you share my glee!
Joe - Yep and I almost linked to it after I found it thru Creative Commons. Just couldn't get the embed to stay on my post after updating the post! It's actually a great recording of them. Check it out! http://www.archive.org/details/WileyWalkerGeneSullivan-WhenMyBlueMoonTurnsToGold1941
Happy Blue Moon Everyone!
Lovely. Wish I had the photo technology to capture this! Best wishes for the New Year.
Michael
Lovely. Wish I had the photo technology to capture this! Best wishes for the New Year.
Michael
SarahGray I just stopped by to wish you a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year.
I got to see the Moon briefly before the clouds blocked it's view, but I had a friend that went to a Blue Moon party last night.