Full Moons have names by J. S. Marlo

 

J. S. Marlo's BWL Books

On October 31, 2020, we saw something we hadn't seen since March 31, 2018. A Blue Moon. 

A Blue Moon is not blue in color. It's the second Full Moon of a  calendar month. Since the  lunar cycle is roughly 29.5 days, a Blue Moon doesn't occur very often, thus the idiom, Once in a blue moon.

 

At 28 or 29 days, February is a special month. It can't have two Full Moons, and about once every 19 years, it doesn't even have one Full Moon. When there is no Full Moon in a month, we call it a Black Moon.  The last Black Moon occurred in February 2018, when there were two Full Moons in January and March, also known as a double Blue Moon. The next Black Moon will occur in 2037.

 

The Blue Moon isn't the only Full Moon with a name. For millennia, people across Europe, as well as Native American tribes, named the months after features they associated with the seasons in the Northern Hemisphere, and many of these names are very similar or identical. Some Native names are often attributed to tribes who lived in a vast area stretching from New England to Lake Superior, and whose languages are related.

 

All the Full Moons have names--many names. Here are some of them:

 

January -> Wolf Moon  named after howling wolves. Other names are Moon After Yule, Old Moon, or Ice Moon.

 

February -> Snow Moon named after the snowy conditions. Other names are Storm Moon, or Hunger Moon due to the scarce food sources during mid-winter.

 

March -> Worm Moon named after the earthworms that come out at the end of winter. Other names are Crow Moon, Crust Moon, Sap Moon, Sugar Moon, Death Moon, or Chaste Moon.

 

April -> Pink Moon named after the pink flowers – phlox – that bloom in the early spring. Other names are Sprouting Grass Moon, Fish Moon, Egg Moon, or Paschal Moon because it is used to calculate the date for Easter.

 

May -> Flower Moon named after the flowers that bloom during this month. Other names are Corn Planting Moon, Hare Moon, or Milk Moon.

 

June -> Strawberry Moon named after these little red berries ripen at this time. Other names are Hot Moon, Mead Moon, or Rose Moon.

 

July -> Buck Moon to signify the new antlers that emerge on deer buck's foreheads around this time. Other names are Thunder Moon, Wort Moon, or Hay Moon

 

August -> Sturgeon Moon named after the large number of fish in the lakes where the Algonquin tribes fished. Other names are Green Corn Moon, Barley Moon, Fruit Moon, Grain Moon, or Red Moon.

September -> Harvest Moon if the September Full Moon is the closest full moon to the September Equinox (around Sept 22). Other names are Corn Moon, Full Corn Moon, or  Barley Moon.

 

October -> Harvest Moon if the October Full Moon is the closest full moon to the September Equinox (around Sept 22). Other names are Hunter’s Moon, Dying Grass Moon,  Blood Moon, or Sanguine Moon.

 

November -> Beaver Moon named after beavers who become active while preparing for the winter.  Other names are Frosty Moon, or Mourning Moon if it is the last full moon before the winter solstice,

 

December -> Cold Moon to signify the beginning of winter. Other names are Moon Before Yule, Long Night Moon, or Oak Moon.

 

To be honest, until today, I'd only heard of a few of them, but there are so many interesting names. Now I'm thinking I need a full moon in my next story--but which one?

Next month, I'll present my new novel, Mishandled Conviction. Until then Happy Reading & Stay safe.

Many hugs!

JS

 

J. S. Marlo's Website

A 19th Century New England Thanksgiving by Eileen O'Finlan

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Click here to visit Eileen O'Finlan's website

Thanksgiving figures heavily in my forthcoming novel, Erin's Children, sequel to Kelegeen. Why Thanksgiving? Why not Christmas? Erin's Children is set in Massachusetts in the 1850s. Thanksgiving was the quintessential New England holiday at that time. Sure folks had started celebrating Christmas to a degree, but it was nothing in comparison to the grandest holiday of all – Thanksgiving.

It was English Puritans who came to Massachusetts in the early 1600s bringing with them a great distaste for anything that smacked of the Church in Rome which meant December 25^th was just another day on the calendar. Anyone caught celebrating Christmas could find themselves in trouble with the law. But Thanksgiving? That was a different story.

Though Puritanism had died out by the 1850s some of the Puritans' ways remained. It wasn't until the American Civil War in the 1860s and beyond that Christmas gained the foothold that would eventually catapult the holiday into the commercialized juggernaut of today. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, took pride of place in the hearts of New Englanders.

As most know, the “First Thanksgiving” took place in 1621 in Plymouth Colony with the Pilgrims and Wampanoag Indians sharing an autumnal harvest feast. For the following two centuries days of Thanksgiving were celebrated at various times by several of the colonies. It wasn't until 1863 when President Abraham Lincoln proclaimed a national day of Thanksgiving to be held every November that it became uniform. Still, by the 1850s the holiday was pretty well set as a tradition, even to the point of always being observed on a Thursday in November. Lincoln just made it official.

Thanksgiving was a huge celebration which entailed a tremendous amount of work. Imagine the work of preparing for Thanksgiving today and multiply it by at least ten. A fresh turkey had to be purchased before dawn on Thanksgiving morning, scalded in boiling water to loosen the feathers, then plucked. The bird was beheaded, gutted, then roasted all day. As if turkey wasn't enough, a couple of chickens were often included. Mashed potatoes and gravy, cranberry sauce, and a multitude of pies, most of them baked weeks in advance and kept frozen in a closed off section of the house, rounded out the feast. Just thinking about the preparation and clean up makes me exhausted.

Often families traveled to spend the day – or if they traveled any real distance, several days or even a few weeks – with relatives. Or, they may have been the hosts, as are the Claprood family in Erin's Children, with relatives coming to stay with them. Not only was there the big Thanksgiving meal to prepare and enjoy, but other frolics that went on for days. In Erin's Children, Mrs. Claprood's brother and his family join them for a week at Thanksgiving. The young people are especially jolly, celebrating with sleigh rides and a taffy pull during the days following the big feast.

Here is a short snippet of the taffy pull scene in Erin's Children:

The scents of hot chocolate and taffy lured Oliver and Benjamin into the kitchen with Nancy and Ethan right behind.

“You've come at a good time,” Deborah announced. “We're ready to pull!”

Kathleen placed the baking pan on the table while Meg set the crock of butter beside it. Once each had thoroughly buttered their hands, they lifted the thickened mixture, each grabbing hold of a section. Meg and Kathleen watched as the young people stretched and pulled the taffy, then folded it in on itself to stretch and pull again. Laughter filled the room as they set themselves up in teams to see who could stretch it furthest. The combination of slippery butter and sticky molasses mixture made for plenty of adventures and a few mishaps.

“Don't you want to pull, too?” Alice asked Meg and Kathleen.

The sisters looked at each other. The thought had not crossed their minds.

“Try.” Pamela encouraged them.

Kathleen's wistful expression decided it for Meg. She held out the crock of butter to her sister who eagerly greased her hands. She and Kathleen each held an end of the taffy and began pulling. To Meg's surprise, the odd mixture of slippery and sticky along with the sweet aroma appealed. She and Kathleen were soon laughing along with the others. For a few moments she felt part of the family. When their stretch of taffy broke, the end snapping back to curl around Meg's hands, she and Kathleen dissolved in gales of laughter.

Available for Purchase on December 1, 2020

 

Crazy Writers are Attempting to write 50,000 words in 30 days

Ever wonder how a writer gets all those words? Writers go to great lengths to get words on the page. NaNoWriMo is one of the most intense events in the writing world.

ON the first of November, as we do each year, thousands of writers around the world launched into the challenge of 50,00 words in one month, this month. (Why November? why not a month with 31 days?)

The rule is that you start on page one to write a book. Book pages must not have been written prior to November 1. However, my process prior to writing is an allowed activity. I start before I start by thinking about the book - a lot. ( Start before you start... how to launch into a new book. )

I have character sketches, I have a rough statement of the story, and limited, sketchy notes for the first eight scenes. My murderer has lived in my head for about fifteen years, so I know them quite well.

 

Last year I wrote the first draft of Mrs. Morrison Meets Murder, intended to be book #1 in my new series.  Throughout the year since, I realized that it wasn't Mrs. M's first murder event. That book will be renamed and moved to book #2 in the series.

And this year, I aim to do a rough draft of what will be book #1 in the Mrs. Mary Morrison and Murder series with a 60-something protagonist. I have potential scenes in my head. I have a rough character sketch of Mary, and a list of potential complications - one lines only.

And so the (new) story launching Mrs. Mary Morrison into the lists of boomer-aged sleuths began on November 1, 2020

Children in the Age of Chivalry – Part Three - Pages by Rosemary Morris

For more information on Rosemary's novels please click on the cover above.

My novel, Grace, Lady of Cassio, The Lovages of Cassio, Book Two, sequel to Yvonne, Lady of Cassio, begins in the reign of Edward III. It will be published in October 2021. At heart I am a historian. My novels are rich in historical detail which requires intensive research, some of which I am sharing in this blog. Pages wore their master’s badge across the front of their tunics. They were the sons of the well-born. When they were seven years-old they became pages to a suitable nobleman. In return for their service they were trained for their future career as knights and educated with the lord’s sons by the household priest. It was not important for a page to learn to read but books about etiquette were written for them. Babee’s Book set out a page’s daily routine. First, he should rise early, wash his face and hands, make sure his fingernails were clean and comb his hair. Next, he should say his prayers or attend Mass. His deportment should be excellent. He should never scratch himself or sniff in public. During the day he was expected to greet everyone he met. He was repeatedly reminded to attend to other people at meals and not to grab this best food, and neither stuff his mouth full ‘as a pigge’ nor speak with food in his mouth. Instead of picking his teeth with his knife he should use a clean stick. He must wait carefully on his lord and lady, remove his cap, and bow before he addressed them. At every meal, on bended knee, he offered his lord wine and afterward brought water for him to wash his hands. Apart from learning good manners he learned how to be a superb horseman, how to wear armour correctly, and to use weapons. An adults’ full armour was very heavy. A page gradually became used to it and learned how to put it on and take it off correctly. He was also taught the complex rules to be observed when taking part in a joust at tournaments and for hunting and hawking. www.rosemarymorris.co.uk http://bookswelove.net/authors/morris-rosemary