The Man in the Moon
Rich Russakoff
Internationally Renowned Speaker, Serial Entrepreneur, #1 Amazon Best Selling Author & Coach of 7 EY Entrepreneur of the Year Award Winners, and over 100 INC. 500 Award Winners.Sc
Last week was a spectacular week for moon-watching, and millions of people were enthralled by August's Full Sturgeon Moon.
The name "Sturgeon Moon" originates with the Algonquin native tribes of what is now the Northeastern United States, according to The Old Farmer's Almanac. It refers to the fact that the Moon is a prime time for catching sturgeon in the Great Lakes and other major water bodies in the region.
This year's Sturgeon Moon is a "supermoon." We have supermoons because the Moon's orbit around the Earth is elliptical, or oval-shaped, rather than perfectly circular, meaning the distance between the two bodies varies over time.
Last week, I went for a late-night walk and almost went looney when I saw for the first time in my life "the man in the moon."
From time to time, the Moon was hidden by trees, but every time I had a clear view, there was that Man exchanging glances with me.
From Wikipedia, I learned:
The Man in the Moon refers to several pareidolic images of a human face that cultures worldwide recognize in the full moon disc.
The images are based on the appearance of the dark areas (known as lunar maria) and the lunar surface's lighter-colored highlands (and some lowlands).
There are various explanations for how the Man in the Moon came to be.
A longstanding European tradition holds that the Man was banished to the Moon for some crime.
Jewish lore believed that he was the Man caught gathering sticks on the Sabbath and sentenced by God to death by stoning in the Book of Numbers.
Some Germanic cultures thought he was a woodcutter found working on the Sabbath.
There is a Roman legend that he is a sheep-thief.
One medieval Christian tradition claims that he is Cain, the Wanderer, forever doomed to circle the Earth.
There is also a Mediaeval Jewish tradition that the image of Jacob is engraved on the Moon.
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John Lyly, English writer, dramatist, courtier, and parliamentarian from the 1500s, says in the prologue to his Endymion (1591), "There liveth none under the sunne, that knows what to make of the man in the moone."
In Chinese mythology, the goddess Chang'e is stranded on the Moon after foolishly consuming a double dose of an immortality potion. In some versions of the myth, she is accompanied by Yu Tu, a Moon rabbit.
In Japanese mythology, it is said that a tribe of human-like spiritual beings live on the Moon, and it's explored in The Tale of the Bamboo Cutter.
In Vietnamese mythology, the Man in the Moon is named Cu?i. He was originally a woodcutter on Earth who owned a magical banyan tree. One day, when his wife ignorantly watered the tree with unclean water and caused it to uproot itself to fly away, Cu?i grabbed its roots and was taken to the Moon. There, he eternally accompanied the Moon Lady and the Jade Rabbit. The trio has become the personification of the Mid-Autumn Festival when they descend to the mortal world and give out cellophane lanterns, mooncakes, and gifts to children.
In the English Middle Ages and Renaissance, the Moon was the God of drunkards, and at least three London taverns were named "The Man in the Moone."
The legends are endless, and these are just a sampling of hundreds.
Below is a collection of my favorite of the countless love songs written about the Moon.
"And the cat's in the cradle and the silver spoon, Little boy blue and the man in the moon. "When you coming home, dad?" "I don't know when, But we'll get together then. You know we'll have a good time then".
-Harry Chapin
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