The Moon of the Long Night

Hello and welcome to the latest blog from The Olivia Rose Diaries on 18th January 2024. It’s time for the monthly ‘question and answer’ blog, although I am stretching the rules a little as this question came to me during December of last year. Rules were ever meant to be broken,  so join me as we go back to the Moon of the Long Night.

It’s 10pm, and we are entrenched in the depths of winter. On such a night it can be hard to drag myself away from a warm fire but our composting loo at Le Shack is outside, and so there is little choice in the matter.

When we lived in a conventional house, one with the long-forgotten luxury of an inside loo, we shut the doors and drew the curtains when night fell, mostly venturing out again only when the sun rose the next day. Those mysterious hours of darkness were another world, one where I felt a niggling sense of unease, where an over-active imagination suggested that nightmares lurked in the shadows.

We bought Le Shack just over three years ago and so I have become accustomed to making this short nocturnal walk to the loo, which is housed in a small shed a few metres away from the cabin. Strangely, it has become precious in a way that I never expected. I have seen first-hand how the world does indeed become very different at night, and I have learnt to embrace that difference, no longer finding it something to be wary of.

As soon as I set foot out of the door I lift my eyes skyward and of their own volition they search out Orion’s Belt. It’s my starting point, a habit that I am hardly aware of, and from there my gaze roams at will, skimming over The Plough, always on the look out for shooting stars. After a few seconds my night vision kicks in and it’s as if a veil lifts. As each minute passes more and more stars peek out from the rich, velvety darkness, pin-pricks of diamond light. Each one is sharp and clearly defined for we are hidden away in the French countryside, with no light pollution from towns or cities to obscure our heavens. I see this celestial display night after night and my sense of wonder never dims, shining as bright as the stars themselves.

The silence feels close and comforting, not threatening. Occasionally it will be broken by the mournful hoot of an owl, perhaps a fox or deer barking. Full moons are my favourite times. The field rises gently up the hill and on a clear night with a full moon I can see almost all of it, the terrain so familiar to me, and yet somehow it becomes other-worldly when bathed in moonlight.

I had always assumed that the full moon lasted a day, perhaps two days if you take one on the wax and one on the wane, and to the naked eye this certainly seems to be the case, but the moon is in constant motion around the Earth and so a true full moon is fleeting, and lasts for only an instant.

We get a full moon every 29.5 days and because the cycle of the moon doesn’t exactly match our calender month there are some years when we get 13 full moons instead of the usual 12. That extra moon is always called a Blue Moon, although there seems to be no obvious reason for this. It certainly isn’t because of its colour, which doesn’t change from the normal white-grey colour.

My question is about the full moon. What names does it have and what do they mean? Apparently the name changes each month.  Many of these names are English adaptations from Native American language, whilst others have their roots in Celtic, Anglo-Saxon or pagan traditions. As a result, each full moon has more than one name,  although they seem to have one thing in common. They reflect a connection to the cycles of the natural world, and describe how the lives of the humans and animals that seek to find shelter and food on this earth are governed by those seasons.

As you read through just a small selection of the names for the full moon that I have compiled below, you may find, as I did, that they are lyrical, beguiling in their simplicity and redolent of a different era. It was a time when humans were familiar with the habits of wolves and bears, when they grew their own food and understood that a hard winter or a poor harvest could be a matter of life and death.

January / Wolf Moon

This refers to the howling of hungry wolves in deepest winter when food may be scarce. Other names are Stay Home Moon and Quiet Moon.

February / Snow Moon

Named after abundant snowfall. Also known as Hungry Moon and Bear Moon, the latter because bear cubs are born in the winter months.

March / Worm Moon

Describes the worms coming out of the soil as the soil warms. Also known as the Crow Moon as the crows are returning, or the Lentern Moon for Anglo Saxons as Spring is on the way. In Old English it was called the Chaste Moon to reflect the purity of the season.

April / Pink Moon

In North America this is the time when the pink phlox comes into flower. Also known as the Moon of the Red Grass Appearing. The Celts called it the Budding Moon or the New Shoots Moon.

May / Flower Moon

Another reference to the spring. Also known as Bright Moon or Grass Moon.

June / Strawberry Moon

This relates to berries ripening. The Celts called it Horse Moon(not sure why) or Rose Moon.

July / Buck Moon

New antlers are emerging on the deer. Also known as Salmon Moon, or Thunder Moon.

August / Sturgeon Moon

The Great Lakes are teeming with fish at this time of year, an essential source of food for the Native American tribes. The Anglo Saxons named it the Grain Moon for much the same reason.

September / Harvest Moon

A time of year to take the bounty of the long summer and lay down stocks for the winter. Also known as Corn Moon or Barley Moon.

October / Hunters Moon

A time for hunting, slaughtering and preserving meat. Sometimes October is also known as the Harvest Moon, or Falling Leaves Moon or Freezing Moon.

November / Beaver Moon

The beavers are also preparing for winter. Other names include Frost Moon, or Darkest Depths Moon.

December / Cold Moon

The name says it all, but another option is the Long Night Moon.

Our modern culture and society, particularly in the westernised world, has changed beyond recognition from the world depicted in these ancient names. Most of us find our food in supermarkets, choosing from thousands of products sourced from all around the world, and we are blissfully unaware of whether harvests have been good or poor because there will always be another producer or another country which can fill the gap. All we see is a packet on the shelf and we have no idea of the story behind it. In many ways this is progress. It is a blessing to be spared the whims of nature and climate and the devastating effect they can have on the food supply chain but it is something that can too easily be taken for granted. We have created an intricate, yet increasingly fragile, web of supply and demand and grown complacent on an illusion of security.

As I stand in the field and look up at the Long Night Moon, I feel in my heart that we have lost something precious. Our connection to the natural world grows ever weaker, important skills and knowledge now lost. We can’t turn the clock back but I’m wary of what the future holds. A clock is ticking somewhere and I feel the need to strengthen my own connection to the natural world, to grab every opportunity and appreciate it fully. And so, as ridiculous as it might sound, I am grateful for this nightly ritual to the loo, for without it I would have remained closeted inside my four walls. I would have never thought to question the names of the moon and what they mean.

As we settle down for the night and turn the lights off,  the full moon shines in brightly, a comforting reminder that times have indeed changed but she has not. She is as she always was and will be back again in another 29.5 days. As I drift off to sleep my last waking thought is that I should compile my own list of names for the moon, a personal reflection on this modern world and my place within it. I wonder what those ancient civilisations would make of such a list…..

And that is it for this week. I hope your new year hasn’t begun by being too cold or too wet, although the odds are that it probably has! See you next week.

MJ