Harvest Moon
January 31st 2009 09:17
Category: No Category
Harvest Moon May 1990- image CarlCan
The Harvest Moon, has a profound significance in agricultural history. Through most of the year, the moon rises each day about 50 minutes later than the previous day .
However, when the autumnal equinox approaches, the difference in rise times drops to about 25 to 30 minutes and for people living farther north, the difference is 10 to 15 minutes. As the Harvest Moon rises after sunset, this provides extra minutes of light each evening for farmers to work longer hours harvesting their crops. Having lived on the land as a small boy I still remember the full moon rising the light of the setting sun bathing the full rising moon we could still pick fruit off the trees with just the moonlight. Which could amount to an extra hour’s worth of picking.
According to the Farmer’s Almanac, there are typically twelve moons with special names. The exception to this is, of course, the somewhat rarer Blue moon.
The twelve named full moons are Snow Moon, Worm Moon, Wolf Moon, Pink Moon, Flower Moon, Strawberry Moon, Buck or Sturgeon Moon, Fruit or Barley Moon, Harvest Moon, Hunters Moon, Beaver Moon, and Cold or Long Nights Moon.
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Comment by S.L.
The Political Brief
About Blue Moons, I was told the term came from the fact that the second full moon during a calendar month was colored blue on the calender and that's where the name came from. Is that correct, or is there another reason for the name?
Comment by CarlCan
Astroearth
The name once in a blue moon generally refers to something rare, a rare occurrence.
Yes you correct, the second full moon in a calendar month is also referred to as a blue moon.
There are also some biblical references as to the moon being red generally associated with atmospheric disturbances such as volcanic debris high in the earth’s atmosphere.