Harvest Moon, October 1st this year!

 

Happy October 1^st!    Happy Full Moon!  Happy Harvest Moon!  Happy Mid-Autumn Festival and Moon Day!   One of these would be enough, wouldn’t it? 

In China, this is the second most important holiday after New Year.  People light lanterns and eat “moon cakes”; but there is a serious background to this, as it’s a time to pray for rain.  Well, we could use rain right now in California to put out some of the awful wildfires raging and destroying.  Anyhow, Moon Day is celebrated all over eastern Asia.  Remember the movie “Teahouse of the August Moon”?  That expression actual refers to the Mid-Autumn Moon.

Why is it a Harvest Moon?  For a few nights, the moon rises right after sunset, and there is so much light that farmers can actually do some outdoor work harvesting—so they did!  The moon may appear to be full for several nights in a row.  Why?  Well, there’s a very good astronomical explanation in the Old Farmers’ Almanac, which I totally do not comprehend; maybe a demonstration with a globe and other apparatus would help me…. 

 Anyhow, such a glorious moon couldn’t help but inspire romantic thoughts, and of course, a famous song.  “Shine on, Harvest Moon” premiered in the Ziegfield Follies of 1908, composed by Nora Bayes, Jack Norworth, and perhaps Dave Stamper.   The song became a staple of vaudeville and barbershop quartets, and has been featured in many movies.  Speaking of films, the  Hallmark channel made a movie called “Harvest Moon” back in 2015 (and of course it’s about a city girl who goes back to the family farm and falls in love, and….).