December Full Moon: 2014

 

 

This morning, December 7^th, I awoke early.  There was a bright light in the corner of the living room and I thought that a light was left on overnight.  After crossing the living room, I looked around, then looked out the window and discovered the “light” was the full moon.

Although the moon was on the way to setting for the night, it was amazingly bright.

It’s cold in upstate New York and yesterday was gray and rainy.  Perhaps the ease of seeing the full moon, the relative lack of clouds, means it will be sunny today.  At least there is no wind - - and no wind chill factor.

Some years ago, Joe Bruchac, a Saratoga County author, wrote a children’s book called Thirteen Moons on Turtle’s Back.  Joe described the names that American Indians gave the moon in each month. 

Our copy of the book is mislaid, so I went to the Internet and found the following information about the December full moon on Moon Connection.

December: The Cold Moon
Winter takes a firm hold and temperatures plummet at this time. Sometimes this moon is also called the Long Night Moon as the winter nights lengthen and the moon spends more time above the horizon opposite a low sun. The full moon name often used by Christian settlers is the "Moon before Yule".

Yes, the weather is cold and no, all of us cannot be lucky enough to live somewhere warm.  My friend Mick Harking, in Ireland, observes, "Hibernation is yer only man."

But there is always something gone on in nature -  - regardless of the season.  For the next few months, bundling up and dealing with the shorter days will be unwelcome extra steps.  But as these photos show, there can be beauty even in the cold.