Blue Moon tonight - or is it?
When I was little my grandparents often had a Farmer's Almanac around. There were all kinds of interesting things in it. One summer as I was reading the almanac I found something about a Blue Moon. I asked my grandfather and he looked at the book and gave a long description of a different kind of calendar and 4 moons in the season and the third moon being a Blue Moon so all of the other full moons had the right names. It had something to do with why Easter always moved around but it seemed too complex to understand it, I just figured it must be some ancient mystery. As I grew older I was told by teachers and others that liked trivia that the Blue Moon was those rare occasions when there were two full moons in a month. I wondered why I had remembered it as something complex having to do with naming of moons, Easter and equinoxes and such.
Well while researching recently - I finally found out why I thought it was so complex, because there are a couple of versions of what a Blue Moon is. I highly recommend going to this website for a more detailed explanation, but here are the basic 4 definitions of Blue Moon.
1. Since the moon looks silver\white\grey a few hundred years ago someone might say, "He would tell you the moon is blue". Which means he either wants to argue or he is a liar. Basically it would be like me saying that black is white or white is black. Someone might say they would marry you on when the moon is blue and that would be like saying when hell freezes over. (So tonight based on this the moon is not actually the color blue because that is impossible so it is not a Blue Moon.)
2. Occasionally because of dust storms, volcanic eruptions and such the moon really does have a bluish tint. Using this meaning once in a Blue Moon really is rare since it takes a night with a full moon that can be seen and very special atmospheric circumstances to create a Blue Moon. (So unless we have some rare atmospheric circumstance - the moon is not a Blue Moon.)
3. This Blue Moon is what my poor grandfather tried to help me understand. The seasonal calendar went from Yule (winter equinox) to Yule (winter equinox). With 4 seasons based on each of the equinoxes and solstices. Each season usually had 3 full moons (because they are about 3 months long). Sometimes a season would end up for 4 full moons. So naturally you would think that the fourth moon would be called Blue Moon - but since each of the 12 moons had names and certain things like Easter went based on those certain moons (the last moon would be closest to the equinox or solstice which is how certain holidays get their date) if you named the 3rd moon the Blue Moon, then everything will still work appropriately. (Based on these rules tonight's moon is not a Blue Moon but August 2013 will have a Blue Moon using these rules.)
4. The final definition is recent and actually came about from a misunderstanding of what someone saw of the 3rd definition in the Maine Farmer's Almanac which is when 2 moons fall in the same month it is a Blue Moon. So based on this definition tonight we have a Full Blue Moon!
Do I think there is a right way or a wrong way? No not really. I think we should think every full moon is special, actually I think we should think every night we are alive is special. When you get down to it why not think of every moment as a special and unique moment that will happen only once in a life time or once in a Blue Moon.
And here in a tribute to my 2nd tv crush (my first one was Linda Carter) Cybill Shephard who then later tantalized me as an adult on The L Word.
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