Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin (1889–1977) is considered one of the first movie stars ever and made film history with his acting and his works. He is also one of the few artists who managed the transition from silent films to sound films.
Because of using archetypal imagery and symbols in his films, it is natural that the moon could also play a part somewhere. We found four references:
After we have already mentioned the lunate bone, one of the eight human carpal bones, which has been named after the Moon, due to its sickle shape, we would like to take another look at the human hand – this time at the fingernails. Lo and behold: here too, the name was inspired by the Moon. The white area of the nail, shaped like a half-moon is called »lunula« (lat. little moon) and incidentally, can be found on toenails as well. The lunula is differently pronounced with every human being, with some you may only see it on the thumb, with others you can see it on all fingers and toes.
The German poet and novelist Joseph Freiherr von Eichendorff (1788–1857) counts among the foremost representatives of Romanticism. Many of his poems had been set to music and were sung.
Von Eichendorff, born in Ratibor (today Racibórz in Poland), studied originally law and worked in a variety of administrative civil service positions, up until he retired. Simultaneously, he devoted his time to his writing and publishing skills, until he died from pneumonia in 1857.
Nena and her band belong to the most successful artists in German music history. With »99 Luftballons« from 1983, she made a name for herself internationally and also reached 2nd place in the US charts with the English version »99 red balloons« [*]. This has only been accomplished by very few German musicians.
In the song »Vollmond« [full moon], also from 1983, Nena sings about the silver Moon and describes the romantic longing and restlessness, which can capture us during a full moon:
In the past, we have already reported about the antiquated word »lunatic«, which derives from the Latin »lunatus« and originally means »influenced by the Moon«. This term »lunatic« has been used in the English language, over several centuries for many forms of mental illnesses.
»Moon blindness« (lat. morbus lunaticus) has nothing to do with the moonlight and luckily does not afflict humans. It is a disease of the eyes of horses, which recurs periodically. Due to an inflammation of the iris, which is caused by bacteria from food that has been contaminated by mice and rats, the cornea of the eye can cloud over. This leaves a bluish color, which gave the illness its name (even though the moonlight is not blue). If this inflammation continues to happen in an interval of months, it is possible that over the years it can lead to complete blindness of the animal. There is the option of an eye operation in the early stage of the illness, however, this is not straightforward.
When looking up to the full moon, you see a sphere and there is no doubt: the Moon has to be round. And we assume quite simply that a sphere is orbiting our Earth. This is correct indeed, if taking a lax approach in the definition of a sphere. The Moon is spherical, but differs considerably from the perfect shape. On the one hand it is flattened at the North Pole and South Pole, and on the other hand, its reverse side, which is turned away from the Earth, is convexed outwardly.
When natural forces are involved, people are mostly torn between fear and fascination. They are looking for the challenge to come into contact with these forces. At the same time, everyone has to respectfully recognize these elemental forces, sooner or later. This becomes impressively apparent in surfing, when a person is gliding on a metre high wave on a surf board. If he manages to stay in front of the crest, and not to be rolled over by the breaking of the wave, he is the winner and in the belief to control the element. If he is not able to do so, it mostly turns dangerous or at least uncomfortable. It is a risky game.
Maybe it lies within the plan of creation that we are so susceptible to everything that is bigger than what we already know or have already experienced. However, the following merely relates to heavenly bodies …
As we recently wrote in our article »Sun and moon the same size?« here in our full moon blog, the moon changes its distance to earth due to its unusual orbit and subsequently appears to be of a different size for the observer here on earth, depending on how close it is to earth at the time. Is the moon (or another heavenly body) as close to earth as possible, one speaks of perigee, and if it is the furthest away, it is called apogee. You can confidently forget these terms again, however, you may want to memorise that the moon can appear to us in different sizes.
Does the full moon have anything to do with our weather? Does the weather change at full moon or at new moon? Is there actually more or less rain and does the temperature therefore drop or rise? A few questions that everyone has surely heard of in one or the other form …