Myths of the moon

Lunar facts and fancies about the moon

by Patricia Maitland

There’s a Goldilocks Factor with the moon and maybe that’s why it’s so magical to us – especially at the cottage. While the sun is too bright to look at, and the stars are too small, the moon is just right. Even with the naked eye, we can discern its rough surface and see the fine edge of sunlight moving across its face, giving us a different-looking moon every night and different memories to cherish.

From Earth, we see only one side of the moon, but there are many sides to the story of why we are so bewitched by its presence. For thousands of years, we’ve been celebrating its magic in legends, songs, rituals, and superstitions. And no wonder – if the moon has the power to pull on our planet, why shouldn’t it tug on our imagination? Yet the facts about our moon are just as fascinating as the fancies it inspires. Green cheese aside, lunar phenomena such as tidal force, earthshine, and the horizon illusion don’t detract from the moon’s mystique but add to it. So, come the next full moon, why not grab your binoculars, a glass of wine, a friend, and be moonstruck.

Loony under the moon

The word “lunatic” (from the Latin luna for moon) was first used in 13th-century France – lunatique – to describe someone suffering intermittent insanity attributed to the changing phases of the moon. People even believed sleeping under the rays of a full moon could make you crazy.

Today, the jury is out on whether the full moon drives humans to act loonier than usual. Generally, scientists dismiss any correlation between lunar fullness and wonky human behaviour. Look at some statistics (compiled by the believers), though, and you’ll see notable increases in car accidents, calls to police, and even animal bites with the onset of a full moon. Ask psychiatric hospital workers, and they’ll tell you patient intake numbers skyrocket on full-moon nights. Same with ambulance drivers – some swear that they fetch more victims when the moon is full. As for the incidence of humans turning werewolf, we’ll leave that to the lunatic fringe.

And speaking of looniness, perhaps you assumed our cottage-country icon, the loon, was so named because of its crazy-sounding tremolo? A false charge, says Katherine Barber, editor of The Canadian Oxford Dictionary. “Loon” is from an Old Norse word for the bird, “lomr.”

Animal insomniacs and binge-eaters

Do wolves really howl because of a full moon? This romantic notion may be based a bit in fact. David Bishop at the Haliburton Forest and Wildlife Reserve explains that wolves howl to keep in touch with their own pack and to let other packs know when they’re trespassing, among other reasons. With the extra light on full moon nights, they may be more active and have more opportunities to vocalize. However, perhaps cottagers notice them more because we’re more active, too.

Not all wildlife gets friskier under a full moon, says biologist Franco Mariotti of Science North in Sudbury. Small critters like deer mice and flying squirrels cut down their activities and lay low to avoid the lunar spotlight and keen eyes of predators.

Birds are affected by the illumination, too. According to ornithologist Mark Peck of the Royal Ontario Museum, some species, especially those that are crepuscular (feeding at dusk), actually gain weight during a full moon because it allows them more time to chow down. Dieters, beware.

Next:

Part 2 - Interesting facts

Photo: Randy Craig

Published in the October 2003 issue of Cottage Life magazine.

Copyright © 2003 by Cottage Life. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any article, photograph, or artwork, for other than personal use, in whole or in part, without the written permission of the publisher is strictly forbidden.