As a general rule, we live our secular life by a so-called solar calendar, the Gregorian calendar, which determines our calculation of time since the end of the 16th century. The biggest advantage of a solar calendar is its connection to the seasons: it is warm in summer, cold in winter, at least this is how it should be … at times however, as we all know, the weather goes crazy and sunshine is long-awaited in summer and snow stays away in winter. The seasons are connected to the (solar) calendar months. [read more]
Does it surprise anyone that the full moon plays a part in the Harry Potter novels, the most popular fantasy stories of these days. This appears to be quite natural midst all the magic. Are there differences between the individual volumes? What other connections are there with the full moon? And: Which of the performers may have possibly been born on the full moon? These questions occupied us and brought forward some astonishing details.
Initially, we searched through the texts of all seven Harry Potter books and counted how often the word »full moon« appeared. We found 13 places altogether. [read more]
In German we call the weeks after the wedding »Flitterwochen«, which has really no relevance to the moon. In many languages it is referred to as »honey moon«, which derives from »honey month« and therefore denotes a specific time with particular sweetness after the wedding. However, not always has the connection to the moon been interpreted positively, because one saw in the waning of the Moon the symbol of the decline of attraction that the happy couple would experience during the course of years after the wedding. [read more]
A lot is said about how full moon can or could influence the sleep of people. And like so often, opinions differ on this subject. Some are certain that they sleep poorly or have a restless sleep around the time of full moon and are not able to fall asleep for a long time. Others sleep like a log … in between there are many who are not aware of any of this and not able to determine by their sleep patterns whether it is full moon or not. [read more]
In Australia, the »southern land« (lat. terra australis), full moon has been shining for millennia for its natives, the Aborigines. According to estimates they inhabit this continent since more than 50,000 years, while Europeans only began to settle there 200 to 400 years ago. We would like to make a connection to the full moon, which is very much part of this fascinating culture, who, like many others, had to endure many wrongs during the course of more recent history. [read more]
