THE REALLY STRANGE STORY BEHIND SUNDAY'S BLUE MOON

The full moon of November arrives on Sunday and will bring with it a cosmic addition: It will also be a so-called "blue moon."

"But wait a minute," you might ask. "Isn't a 'blue moon' defined as the second full moon that occurs during a calendar month? Sunday's full moon falls on Nov. 21 and it will be the only full moon in November 2010. So how can it be a 'blue' moon?"

Indeed, November's full moon is blue moon – but only if we follow a rule that's now somewhat obscure. In fact, the current "two-full moons in one month" rule has superseded an older rule that would allow us to call Sunday's moon "blue." To be clear, the moon does not actually appear a blue color during a blue moon, it has to do with lunar mechanics.

Confused yet? Well, as the late Paul Harvey used to say — here now, is the rest of the story:

The blue moon rule

Back in the July 1943 issue of Sky & Telescope magazine, in a question and answer column written by Lawrence J. Lafleur, there was a reference made to the term "blue moon." [Gallery - Full Moon Fever]

Lafleur cited the unusual term from a copy of the 1937 edition of the now-defunct Maine Farmers' Almanac (NOT to be confused with The Farmers' Almanac of Lewiston, Maine, which is still in business). On the almanac page for August 1937, the calendrical meaning for the term "blue moon" was given. That explanation said that the moon "... usually comes full twelve times in a year, three times for each season." Occasionally, however, there will come a year when there are 13 full moons during a year, not the usual 12. The almanac explanation continued:
"This was considered a very unfortunate circumstance, especially by the monks who had charge of the calendar of thirteen months for that year, and it upset the regular arrangement of church festivals. For this reason thirteen came to be considered an unlucky number."

And with that extra full moon, it also meant that one of the four seasons would contain four full moons instead of the usual three. "There are seven Blue Moons in a Lunar Cycle of nineteen years," continued the almanac, ending on the comment that, "In olden times the almanac makers had much difficulty calculating the occurrence of the Blue Moon and this uncertainty gave rise to the expression 'Once in a Blue Moon.'"

An unfortunate oversight

But while LaFleur quoted the almanac's account, he made one very important omission: He never specified the date for this particular blue moon. As it turned out, in 1937, it occurred on Aug. 21. That was the third full moon in the summer of 1937, a summer season that would see a total of four full moons. Names were assigned to each moon in a season: For example, the first moon of summer was called the early summer moon, the second was the midsummer moon, and the last was called the late summer moon. But when a particular season has four moons, the third was apparently called a blue moon so that the fourth and final one can continue to be called the late moon. So where did we get the "two full moons in a month rule" that is so popular today?

A moon mistake

Once again, we must turn to the pages of Sky & Telescope. This time, on page 3 of the March 1946 issue, James Hugh Pruett wrote an article, "Once in a Blue Moon," in which he made a reference to the term "blue moon" and referenced LaFleur's article from 1943. But because Pruett had no specific full moon date for 1937 to fall back on, his interpretation of the ruling given by the Maine Farmers' Almanac was highly subjective. Pruett ultimately came to this conclusion: "Seven times in 19 years there were – and still are – 13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called Blue Moon." How unfortunate that Pruett did not have a copy of that 1937 almanac at hand, or else he would have almost certainly noticed that his "two full moons in a single month assumption" would have been totally wrong. For the blue moon date of Aug. 21 was most definitely not the second full moon that month!

Blue moon myth runs wild

Pruett's 1946 explanation was, of course, the wrong interpretation and it might have been completely forgotten were it not for Deborah Byrd who used it on her popular National Public Radio program, "StarDate" on Jan. 31, 1980. We could almost say that in the aftermath of her radio show, the incorrect blue moon rule "went viral" — or at least the '80s equivalent of it. Over the next decade, this new blue moon definition started appearing in diverse places, such as the World Almanac for Kids and the board game Trivial Pursuit. I must confess here, that even I was involved in helping to perpetuate the new version of the blue moon phenomenon. Nearly 30 years ago, in the Dec. 1, 1982 edition of The New York Times, I made reference to it in that newspaper's "New York Day by Day" column.
And by 1988, the new definition started receiving international press coverage.
Today, Pruett's misinterpreted "two full moons in a month rule" is recognized worldwide. Indeed, Sky & Telescope turned a literary lemon into lemonade, proclaiming later that – however unintentional – it changed pop culture and the English language in unexpected ways. Meanwhile, the original Maine Farmers' Almanac rule had been all but forgotten.

Playing by the (old) rules

Now, let's come back to this Sunday's full moon. Under the old Almanac rule, this would technically be a blue moon. In the autumn season of 2010, there are four full moons:
Sept. 23
Oct. 22
Nov. 21
Dec. 21

"But wait," you might say. "Dec. 21 is the first day of winter." And you would be correct, but only if you live north of the equator in the Northern Hemisphere. South of the equator it's the first day of summer. In 2010, the solstice comes at 6:38 p.m. EST (2338 UT). But the moon turns full at 3:13 a.m. EST (0813 UT). That's 15 hours and 25 minutes before the solstice occurs. So the Dec. 21 full moon occurs during the waning hours of fall and qualifies as the fourth full moon of the season. This means that under the original Maine Almanac rule – the one promoted by Lafleur and later misinterpreted by Pruett – the third full moon of the 2010 fall season on Nov. 21 would be a blue moon.

Choose your blue moon

So what Blue Moon definition tickles your fancy? Is it the second full moon in a calendar month, or (as is the case on Sunday) the third full moon in a season with four? Maybe it's both. The final decision is solely up to you. Sunday's full moon will look no different than any other full moon. But the moon can change color in certain conditions.

After forest fires or volcanic eruptions, the moon can appear to take on a bluish or even lavender hue. Soot and ash particles, deposited high in the Earth's atmosphere, can sometimes make the moon appear bluish. In the aftermath of the massive eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines in June 1991, there were reports of blue moons (and even blue suns) worldwide. We could even call the next full moon (on Dec. 21) a "red moon," but for a different reason: On that day there will be a total eclipse of the moon and, for a short while, the moon will actually glow with a ruddy reddish hue.

INCOGNITO

Gerald seldom goes to the grocery with me, but he did so today as I am not competent to select cat food and HIS bananas!

As Gerald was sacking groceries in Aldi's, I noticed a person whom I know from Water Aerobics, further back in the checkout line, and she asked when I was going to return to class. She and I began talking and Gerald finished sacking and started pushing the cart toward the door. My Water Aerobics classmate asked, "Did something happen to your husband?" I asked, "No, why do you ask?" She asked, "Is that your brother helping you with the groceries?" I started laughing and said, "That's Gerald--he shaved!" She said, "Oh, I didn't even recognize him!"

Later, in WalMart, Gerald was waiting for me as I shopped. A guy Gerald went to school with came up to me and started laughing and said, "Gerald's out there waiting for you--I didn't recognize him--I thought he was a people-greeter!"

HAND SIGNALS

In high-decibel level manufacturing areas, hand signals are often used to communicate. I was assigned to an area where it was well-known that the men did not want women working and the workers there did everything they could to make the women quit. I was warned how rough it was going to be, but it was "my turn in the barrel." My job was at the end of the line--the "take-off" job where one loaded the product onto a pallet. My training on the job lasted approximately two minutes:

1. "Here's the order--measure every fifteen minutes."
2. "Don't turn this machine off UNLESS your arm is caught in it!"

I soon noticed the men down the line using a variety of hand signals. After about a half-hour a different size product started coming down the line. I started stacking them on a scrap pallet, but soon ran out of pallets. I realized that the order had changed and nobody had warned me! I went over and kicked the big red button which shut off the line. I got in the gangway and held my thumb and forefinger together and waved the other three fingers. The Operator, Leadman and Supervisor all rushed up to my station. The Operator screamed at me, "Why the f--- did you shut off the line?" The Leadman asked, "What the f---does that hand signal mean?" The Supervisor asked, "What's going on here?"

I said, holding my thumb and forefinger together and waving, "This is a flying butthole--which is what ALL of you are for not telling me that you were changing orders!" The Supervisor asked, "Didn't you see the signal they were changing orders?" I said, "Nobody explained ANY signals!" The Supervisor said to the Leadman, "Get your ass on that job right now," and he took me to the break area and explained all the hand signals used. I told the Supervisor "They were all too busy conspiring to get rid of me that they weren't worried about what was good for the Company!" I returned to work and I always say that "I not only survived, I triumphed!"

Years later, when I became the FIRST female Supervisor and that Supervisor became a General Supervisor, we were together in a training session about good communication and each of us in the group was supposed to give examples of good and bad communication. The General Supervisor told the group the story of a young employee who had not been trained and how the employee shut down the line, got in the middle of the gangway and gave a hand signal with thumb and index finger together with the other three fingers waving and he said the story was an example of good AND bad communication. The General Supervisor looked to me and asked, "Did I tell it pretty accurate?"

SMALLER BITES!

My husband is constantly amazed by the "verbal shorthand" displayed by my brother and me and oftentimes he gets lost in the verbal crossfire. Last week, I was whining about all the STUFF I have to do and Les responded with an uncompassionate shrug and said "Smaller bites." Gerald asked, "What's that mean?" Les explained that I bite off more than I can chew!

On Wednesday, after the election, Les said, "Well, maybe now you can take a break." I said, "Oh no, I have an Angels Awaiting meeting today, I need to retreive my stuff from the Headquarters, and this evening I go to my first week of a 12-week class to learn how to start a Community Garden."

SMALLER BITES, Sue!

HEART OF STONE

My brother and I have an ongoing "Kevin Costner Debate". I always rent his movies, but I invariably say, "I don't care for Kevin Costner; I think he's a very wooden actor." And then Les will counter with, "But you liked "Dances With Wolves", didn't you?" To which I mumble, "Well, yeah." Then he'll say, "You liked "Bull Durham"--right?" To which I answer, "I saw that because of Susan Sarandon." Next he will bring up "The Big Chill" and "No Way Out". I always quote Dorothy Parker's review of Katharine Hepburn, "She ran the gamut of emotions from A to B," to describe Costner's acting ability.

I rented "Field Of Dreams" because of the "Salingeresque" character played by James Earl Jones. Les watched it first and then Mother, Gerald and I watched it together. In the scene where Kevin Costner realizes that Ray Liotta is his father, Gerald and I both had tears in our eyes. Mother looked at us and said, "I can't believe the two of you BAWLING at a movie!" Gerald said, "Gladys, you must not have had any father issues!" She just tsk-tsked and shook her head.

After we finished the movie, Les came downstairs for our usual movie discussion and he asked Mother how she had enjoyed it and she said, "It was OK but the two of them were bawling like babies!" Les said, "Mom, you'd have to have a heart of stone NOT to cry at "Field of Dreams."

LOU HOLTZ

When our co-worker John Holtz announced that his relative Lou Holtz had accepted his plea to be the speaker at our Management Club meeting, I was surprised by all the hubbub from my fellow management people; they thought it was quite a coup to have him. I had NO idea who/what Lou Holtz was and of course, being abysmally ignorant about football, I was neither thrilled nor impressed. The guys were actually taking footballs with them hoping to have them autographed. Of course I did know that Notre Dame was famous for football; I'd seen the movie "Knute Rockne"!

Holtz' speech centered on the importance of faith and family in his life and the speech was sparked with pithy quotes and humorous anecdotes. He told us, "Don't tell your problems to people; 80% don't care and the other 20% are glad you have them."

He ended his speech by telling us that he'd leave us with the words of his grandmother, "My grandmother always told me to do right, do my best, treat others the way you want to be treated and if that's not good enough, the Hell with 'em!"

I really enjoyed that ending, especially after listening to all of the faith/family/motivational schmaltz! Today, I wanted to learn if Coach Holtz were still alive; imagine my shock when I found that little quote as one of his "famous quotes"--EXCEPT it's written thusly: "Always do right, do your best, and treat others the way you want to be treated." I like it so much better the way he said that his grandmother said it!

After the speech, my brother had asked me what I thought of Holtz and I told him that my gut feeling was that I didn't like him, and my brother said, "Good instinct; he was fired at Arizona because he made political endorsements for Jesse Helms."