October 2004                                                                          The Megaphone                                                                                  Page 5

My Moon Talk

by Ginny (Hocker) Noble

            

This whole moon business started because of the last Blue Moon which occurred on July 31, 2004, and my fondness for many of the "Moon songs." I started looking for answers to the Blue Moon folklore many years ago, and have accumulated a few newspaper articles written about it. This year, I have delved deeper and researched it on the internet. This article is a compilation and simplification of what I have gathered. I am not an expert -- just a curious person -- who goes looking for answers. In researching for my Blue Moon information, I have found various amounts of Moon data. Therefore, I have more than enough for another article that will just focus on the Moon and some facts regarding it. And last, I love the Indian lore and other names of the full Moons; I think that you can learn about the life-style of our country by what has been passed down and remains today. And I also enjoy the many, many, many, Moon titled songs. Some of them are my favorites, I will name some of them, see if you remember them, and if you like them also.

 

One of the oldest recorded songs and still one of the most popular "moon" songs is the following – it was written by Nora Bayes and Jack Norworth in 1903.

Shine on Harvest Moon

 

Shine on, shine on harvest moon

Up in the sky,

I ain’t had no lovin’

Since January, February, June or July

 

Snow time ain’t no time to stay

Outdoors and spoon,

So shine on, shine on harvest moon,

For me and my gal.

 

This year the full Harvest Moon occurred on September 28, 2004 .

 

Some more moon songs:

Au Clair de Lune – Debussy,

Alleghany Moon – Margi Harrell

Bad Moon Rising – Credence Clearwater Revival

Blue Moon – Rogers & Hart

Blue Moon of Kentucky – Monroe

By The Light of the Silvery Moon – Noble & Lanson

Carolina Moon – Lambert

Dancin’ In the Moonlight – King Harvest

East of the Sun and West of the Moon – B. Bowman

Fly Me to the Moon – Sinatra

How High the Moon – Hamilton and Lewis

Its Only A Paper Moon – Arlen, Rose, Yip

Moon Over Miami – Leslie, Burk

Moon River – Henri Mancini

Moonglow – Benny Goodman

Moonlight and Roses – Raymond Paige

Moonlight Bay – Madden, Wenrich

Moonlight Becomes You – Johnny Mcaffee

Moonlight in Vermont – Blackburn & Seussdorf

Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven

That Old Devil Moon – Yip, Harburg, Lane

There’s a Moon Out Tonight – The Capris

Wabash Moon – Kozel, Egner, Birchill, Hausen

When the Moon Comes Over the Mountain – Kate Smith

Blue Moon

 

There are two major definitions for a blue moon and neither of them is in reference to the color blue. The newer definition and the one that most of us are familiar is when a second full moon appears in a calendar month. This meaning happened because J. Hugh Pruett, writing for Sky and Telescope in 1946 made a mistake in interpreting the Maine Farmers’ Almanac older blue moon meaning version, and he wrote that it was the second full moon in a month. That article was then repeated on the radio, and then used by Trivial Pursuit and children books. That definition now has stuck and it appears as a definition in the Dictionary. It is referred to as modern folk-lore, and has been propagated by the news industry world wide.

 

Some Blue Moon Newer Definition Facts:

The new definition happens on an average of every two-and-a half years.

The average time between two full moons is 29 and a-half days.

They occur about 41 times in a century, and only on the 30th or 31st day of the month. They never happen in February because a second full moon needs 29.5 days to reappear, and even in a leap year February has just 29 days.

There was a blue moon on July 31, 2004 , the next blue moons to occur are June 2007, December 2009, August 2012, July 2015, and the extremely rarer two blue moons in a calendar year -- January and March of 2018 -- which means February will have no full moon.

 

The older definition is more difficult to explain and is dependent upon the seasons. It has been recorded in the Maine Farmer’s Almanac as this explanation. A blue moon is the third full moon in a season that has four full moons. Some years have thirteen moons instead of twelve, and the identity of the moons were very important in the ecclesiastical and lunar calendar -- a year with a thirteenth full moon messed up the calendar (they had names for only full twelve). By identifying the thirteenth full moon as a "blue moon" -- the ecclesiastical calendar was able to stay on course.

 

Blue Moon Older Definition Facts:

It can only occur in February, May, August, or November -- this is because it is related to the seasons.

It occurs about a month before the equinox or solstice.

It will be on the 20th to 23rd of the month.

It happens because the seasons are not identical in length since the earth’s orbit is elliptical.

The third full moon in a season of four full moons will be -- August 2005, May 2008, November 2010, August 2013, May 2016 and February 2019.

 

The phrase "blue moon" dates back to over 400 years. Its meaning has shifted during that time. It has been noted in a 1528 work by William Barlow –

Yf they saye the mone is belewe,

We must believe that it is true.

Its earliest references are that of an absurd event that can never occur, such as saying the moon is made of "green cheese." This understanding of a blue moon being absurd led to a second meaning of "never." As if to say something would take place in a "blue moon," meaning "never." It was cited as impossible and then later came to mean unlikely. So the other phrase of "once in a blue moon" came to mean not very often. This was noted in 1824 and refers to uncommon occurrences. Modern usage holds that a blue moon is a rare, but not impossible, event.

 

There have been occasions when the moon has appeared to have a blue or lavender hue.  This is caused by dust, ash, or soot high in the Earth’s atmosphere. The dust or ash comes from major volcanic eruptions such as Krakatoa, Mount St. Helens , and monsoons in India . And the soot can be from major forest fires such as what they had in western Canada in the1950s. The particles can have a strange effect on moonlight. They scatter the light in every direction, but red light is scattered more strongly than blue light, so that less red light passes through the smoke. Thus the Moon has a blue tinge.

 

Another use for the phrase "Blue Moon" is in songs. Either in the titles or in the lyrics - it is used as a symbol of sadness and loneliness. One of these tunes is "Blue Moon" by Rogers and Hart, recorded by Sinatra, Elvis Presley, and the Marcels. And another is "Blue Moon of Kentucky" by Bill Monroe, sung by Monroe, Elvis Presley, and Patsy Cline.

 

 Another reference to a blue moon is a cocktail drink. This blue moon named drink is Curacao, gin and a twist of lemon.

 

Now when you gaze at the moon and hear that phrase, you will know what all the excitement is about.

               

Ginny (Hocker) Noble '60

Tipton, Indiana

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