From: "Roy C. Lackey" <rclackey@stic.net>
Subject: Re: (urth) The calendar
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 1999 06:45:47 

mantis,

You wrote:

>"Hallowmass Eve (which is to say, the full of the Spading Moon)," ("The
>Cat," first few pages).  This is probably the best of all calendar
>references in the text.  The months each have many names, according to
>Wolfe (when I asked him): the Spading Moon shows a good example of one.  It
>reinforces the Lunar nature of the Commonwealth calendar, as well as the
>agricultural sense (Spading Moon), and the religious sense (Hallowmass Eve,
>aka Halloween).  There is also the suggestion that the previous month is
>the Harvest Moon.

>That is to say: we have Harvest Moon (first full moon after Sep 23) and
>Hunter's Moon (the full moon after Harvest Moon); Spading might be equal to
>Harvest, but to get closer to our Halloween, Spading must instead be
>Hunter's Moon.

>THUS
>. . . the Spading Moon of the Commonwealth should fall somewhere around May
>1, and, if Halloween is here, too, then it has been shifted along to match
>the proper season (local Autumn).

Actually, your definition of the Harvest Moon is incorrect. As stated, the
Harvest Moon could occur as late as October 21 (in the Northern Hemisphere),
which is not so. The Harvest Moon is the full moon nearest the autumnal
equinox, that is, a fortnight either side of the equinox. While I am
familiar with the Harvest and Hunter's Moons, I have not heard of a Spading
Moon. It would seem to me, however, that spading would be associated with
planting time, not harvesting time, as you have it. In spring, when the
ground is readied for planting, it is plowed (or spaded if no plow is
available). This, in the Commonwealth, would happen six months away from May
1, around Nov. 1, which is, precisely, All Hallows, just as it says in "The
Cat". Only, it is mid-spring in the Commonwealth, not mid-autumn, and has
nothing to do with the Harvest Moon, which would happen near the autumnal
equinox in March.

Thinking upside-down makes my head hurt. <g>

Roy



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