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:
When the sun light is reflected and diffracted in fine water droplets in the air, a rainbow arises. So what happens if the same occurs in the moon light, is there also going to be a rainbow? Well, we find the idea of a moon rainbow quite fascinating …
Let’s take a short detour into physics. What we recognise in a rainbow as an arched bow made of colourful light, are the spectral colours that develop when the “white” sunlight fans out in its different wavelenghts, which we perceive in different colours. This decomposition does also take place, when the light is sent through a glass prism.
There is a famous quote by the American writer Mark Twain (1835–1910), taken from his satirical travel guide »A Tramp Abroad«, published in 1880: »Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.« He alludes to the astronomical fact that the Moon only turns one side towards the Earth, due to its synchronous rotation. The reverse side of the Moon remains hidden to us when observed from Earth.
We would like to turn our attention to two interesting types of light apparitions around the Moon: halos and coronas. Both are optical phenomena in the atmosphere that, if looked at from a physical point of view, come about in different ways and also look dissimilar.
A halo (left picture) develops through refracting ice crystals and creates a clearly defined light ring around the Sun or the Moon, whereas the surface between the celestial body and the ring, almost appears to be empty. Light spots, light arches and pillars can also emerge.
We recently went to a ballet performance – Swan Lake by Tschaikowsky – with the Moscow Ballet. Immediately, after the curtain rose for the first time, the stage set showed a nighttime scenery, with a castle at a lake and high in the sky a wonderful full moon. Later, when the »swans« appeared and everything was bathed in a bluish light, the entire room was permeated with a fantastic and subtle atmosphere.
The dancers were sensational. Every movement danced with absolute emotional power and perfect precision. We were amazed and in awe. A true delight for the senses …
In the finale, the castle scenery came into action again and the entire performance was surrounded by full moon light.
Whether Tschaikowsky had the full moon in mind?
We have already reported about full moon delicacies, which are being produced during the full moon. Especially popular are full moon bread, cheese, sausage, coffee, beer and water. But there are also foods that have been simply connected to the Moon via their shape and therefore carry the moon in their name. For example the mooncake at the Chinese festival or the American »Moon Pie«, a sandwich cookie that has been made since 1917.
As already mentioned in our article about sleepwalking, a connection was made in the past between the moonlight and people, if their conduct was odd, crazy or threatening. One assumed that the moonlight caused this behaviour and spoke of “lunatic”, which derives from the Latin “lunatus” and means more or less “influenced by the moon”. In English, this terminology “lunatic” has been used for many forms of mental illnesses over many centuries. Because many of these disorders could not be explained for a long time (and there are still plenty of questions today), one was in need of a point of reference, a word that would accompany on the path of darkness. The Moon was very convenient.
In June or July of each year, students commemorate their spiritual teachers (Gurus) with a big festival in India, but also in many parts of Asia. This festival is always celebrated at a full moon (Purnima):
3rd July 2012 [*]
22nd July 2013
12th July 2014
31st July 2015
In Hinduism, this day is also dedicated to the wise Vyasa who is connected to vital Indian writings, like the Vedas, a significant collection of religious scripts.
We figured it would be obvious to look for the full moon in the works of England’s most famous poet William Shakespeare (1564–1616). Surprisingly, the »moon« is to be found more often, however the word »full moon« appears in the original text only once, namely in »King Lear«.
The text of the comedy »A Midsummer Night’s Dream« (approx. 1595), contains the moon a whopping 52 times (28 times in the last act alone) and it can be assumed that Shakespeare was thinking of the full moon when he wrote these lines. Although it is not described as the »full moon«.
The American astronaut David Scott (* 1932) conducted an interesting experiment on the Moon, toward the end of the Apollo 15 mission in July/August 1971. In front of a running camera, he dropped a hammer (2.9 lb) and a falcon’s feather (0.06 lb), just to prove Galileo Galileis’ (1564–1641) thesis that objects fall to the ground with the same speed, regardless of their mass, provided the air resistance does not slow them down, as it is the case on Earth. On our planet, this experiment could only be demonstrated in a vacuum.
Bathing during the full moon or in the full moon light, is a fascinating experience, which one or the other has surely made. Two ways to interpret this is either bathing in the water at the full moon (outdoors or in the bath tub), or bathing directly in the moonlight (when the light of the Moon shines onto your skin, just like sunbathing).