Harvest Moon ... and Celebrations

Tonight is the Harvest Moon: an old name for the full moon that falls nearest the Autumn Equinox, which is usually in September.  The Harvest Moon appears larger and brighter to some people, but they're really not. This time of year there is no long period of darkness between sunset and moonrise of the full moon, so the night seems brighter than usual. This allowed farmers to stay out and work in their fields by moonlight under the Harvest Moon, and later, under the Hunter's Moon (the next full moon, in October), allowed hunters to see the deer and other animals that came out to browse in the then-harvested fields.

Apparently (allegedly?) each full moon had a name in certain cultures.  I've seen lists of moon names attributed to the ancient Celtic people of Europe, the Chinese, the Algonquin people of what is now New England, among others. Sometimes the September full moon was called the Corn Moon by Native Americans.

Tonight, go out and dance under the big bright moon! Or celebrate it in some other way:  Bake "moon cakes" (round sugar cookies).  Sing moon songs.  Just go out with someone you love and look at it for a few minutes.

Why celebrate the full moon?  Well, doing so makes us feel just a little closer to nature.  It connects us a little to the nighttime and the world of magic and imagination.  It helps us appreciate cycles, since the full moon comes around again every month -- the moon is ever changing, but in a cycle, so ever constant as well.  Predictably changeable, which is comforting.

And why celebrate at all?  Celebrations bring us together -- "us" being families, friends, communities, even whole cultures.  One thing I love about Christmas (which I do love!) is knowing that it has been celebrated with many of the same traditions for hundreds of years as Christmas, and as who knows how many thousands of years as Yule and the Winter Solstice!

My mother was great at celebrations -- at making a day feel special.  Not just the major holidays, but more private special days like birthdays, the first day of school, the first day of Spring.  Snow days (I grew up in the American South, so snow was a special event that closed all the schools!).  Cookie day (December 23).  She honored the cycles and the passing of time and the extra-ordinary -- or maybe she just knew an excuse for a party when she saw one!  She found meaning in these days, and shared meanings become shared experiences, which become little rituals, and rituals become traditions, which connect us with the past and with each other.  My mother has passed on, but these traditions large and small help to keep her spirit with me and with my children.

Here are some books with useful ideas about Celebrations, particularly geared toward parenting:
New Traditions: Redefining Celebrations for Today's Family by Susan Abel Lieberman
To Dance With God: Family Ritual and Community Celebration by Gretrud Mueller Nelson
Celebrating the Seasons of Life: Samhain to Ostara by Ashleen O'Gaea
Celebrating the Seasons of Life: Beltane to Mabon by Ashleen O'Gaea