We are not having any Blue Moons this year but the experts say that
year 2001 will have an official "Blue Moon" in November. Your
geographic location can make a difference to your experience of a
Blue Moon. Depending on your longitude you may go through a date
change prior to other locations which means the full moon is at the
first of your new month and falls at the end of the preceding month
somewhere else. The "blue" one is always the 2nd full moon in the
same month. The regular full moons of each month all have their own
individual names as follows:
Moon after Yule, Wolf Moon, Lenten Moon, Egg Moon, Milk Moon, Flower
Moon, Hay Moon, Grain Moon, Fruit Moon, Harvest Moon, Hunters' Moon
and Moon Before Yule.
Historically the Blue Moon was considered unlucky and a real nuisance
when it occurred at various times of the year and upset scheduling
of church festivals. In love songs the Blue Moon is often a symbol
of sadness and loneliness.
The first appearance in print of this expression goes back to
the time of Shakespeare, when some folks felt that sometimes the moon
visually appeared blue in the sky. Although the expression dates all
that way back, it has only recently come to mean the second Full Moon
in one month. Blue Moon seems to be a truly modern piece of folklore,
old folklore it is not, but real folklore it is.
