Mysteries

The moon is symbolic. Many cultures have ideas on how the moon came to be or what the moon symbolizes. To the Aztecs, the moon is the head of ancient moon goddess coyolxauhqui, the story behind it says her brother Huitzilopochtli cut off the moon goddess’s head and threw it to the sky because she tried to convince her other siblings to kill their mother because she thought her mother was dishonorable. To the Native Americans the moon was important mostly to the farmers. They gave special names for each full moon on the different months of the year. The name “Harvest Moon” came from Native American tribes. It is called that because that’s when farmers can stay in their fields late, after sunset, harvesting their crops by the light of the full moon.  The full moon for this month which was on 6^th was as the Natives call it the “Beaver Moon” because supposedly it is time for beavers to set traps before the swamps freeze to make sure a supply of warm winter furs. But I believe that the moon came from a galaxy so that even when it is supposed to be dark out the light from the moon will shine above us like a night light for those who don’t have homes and for animals who might be scared of the dark.

Picture of coyolxauhqui from (http://www.windows2universe.org/mythology/coyolxauhqui_moon.html)

            I can’t see the moon from my room so I have to go out and sit outside and write some field notes. Lately it’s been cold so I sit in my car. It kind of makes things closed minded as I can’t hear the noises outside or how the air feels or how he wind sounds. So I usually try to sit outside for a couple minutes until it gets to cold to bear. I decided to be brave and sit outside for a while. The cold nipped at my nose and ears. It had slapped my face so many times my cheeks were a deep pink. The wind was mellow but still attacked at times. It whispered secrets of the moon. It sounded like a lullaby with the trees making music in the background. Tonight the moon was hardly there. It was as if it were hiding from something. It wasn’t so bright outside. The night felt sad and lonely. Maybe the moon was ill. I love the moon. I always tell her my secrets and she never tells. I could see part of its craters but not as much as I would like. The darkness was taking over her light like it does to the most of us. According to the website (http://www.calendar-365.com/moon/moon-calendar.html) the moon was 18% visible.

            I always have dreams of being on the moon. Having a little home there by myself. If it’s true about moon goddesses maybe she’ll be there to protect me. I wonder how the moon feels. Is it grainy? Or soft? I wish I could go to the moon. I wonder if the moon ever envies the earth. I wonder if it ever wonders why no one goes to the moon. The moon is lucky, it dances with the stars and plays with the comets. I wonder if it ever misses where it came from. Scientist say that the moon was formed because “about 4.45 billion years ago, a young planet Earth -- a mere 50 million years old at the time and not the solid object we know today-- experienced the largest impact event of its history. Another planetary body with roughly the mass of Mars had formed nearby with an orbit that placed it on a collision course with Earth. When young Earth and this rogue body collided, the energy involved was 100 million times larger than the much later event believed to have wiped out the dinosaurs. The early giant collision destroyed the rogue body, likely vaporized the upper layers of Earth's mantle, and ejected large amounts of debris into Earth orbit. Our Moon formed from this debris.” (http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/StarChild/questions/question38.html) but that’s just a bunch of boring science stuff.

(same website as the quote above.)