Thursday, December 3, 2009

Blue moon



This month is a blue moon, did you know there is such a wonder?



Yep, normally the calendar year has 12 new moons, one for each month spaced about 30 days apart, but because each calendar year has eleven extra days, on occasion there will be a thirteenth moon within one year. Maybe every 3-4 years this will happen.



December 2, (last night) was a blue moon because we will have another new moon at the end of this month. The blue moon has been used in long ago times to define the solstice (summer, winter) or the equinox (spring, fall). It is said the changes will occur two weeks after the blue moon and in this case we are talking about the winter solstice. The blue moon has also been used to determine the times of Easter.



The "blue" in the blue moon is related to many big burnings of the world that have occurred throughout history. It is said that the debris emitted into the atmosphere will give the moon a blue hue and some say....it has lasted for as much as three years.



There is a expression we all know, "Once in a blue moon" that would apparently indicate a rare thing.



That would seem to be too true.....C&G Design

4 comments:

Jean Merriman said...

Interesting. I knew that their actually was a blue moon but either did not know what it was or had forgotten what it was. The later is more likely.

Another old time saying about the changes in the weather is "As the days lengthen, the cold strengths". That does usually seem like that is when the real winter weather sets in.

Kathleen said...

I can always count on learning something new on your blog. Love it! Hugs, Kathleen

Skeeter said...

This reminded me of the song, Blue Moon of Kentucky, by Patsy Cline...

Lola said...

I didn't know about this. Very interesting. Thanks.