Strawberry Moon

I do enjoy a good full moon, especially if there’s loads on information associated with it! All full moons have a name – the most common names come from the North American Native Tribes. They have some really great ‘Moon Names’ – a good example is June’s full moon in a couple of weeks, the Cree called it Opiniyawiwipisim, (now that’s a mouthful) which translates into the ‘Egg Laying Moon’, as it was when birds and waterfowl started laying eggs.

Another common name for June’s full moon is the Strawberry Moon (much easier to pronounce).

The other ‘special full moons’ are the Super Moons - There are four supermoons in 2024, the next one occurring on 19 August. Thereafter, 2024's supermoons occur on 18 September, 17 October and 15 November. Now in some cases Supermoons have been linked to extreme weather events - such as earthquakes and tsunamis. The moon passed close to the Earth on 10 January 2005, around the time of the Indonesian earthquake that measured 9.0 on the Richter scale and also in 2005 Hurricane Katrina occurred around the same time as an unusually large full moon. Previous ‘supermoons’ which happened in 1955, 1974 and 1992 – were associated extreme weather events. A number of scientists are developing the theory that there may be a link between large-scale earthquakes in places around the equator and new and full moon situations due to the Earth-tides (equivalent to ocean tides - water has low viscosity so the tidal tugging of the moon as it rotates around the Earth sloshes the oceans back and forth to create our tides.) may be some sort of trigger that sets off the earthquake. Many more though think it’s a complete coincidence and has nothing to do with lunar influences and the most the moon can do is slightly alter the timing of an earthquake or volcanic eruption that was on the verge of happening anyway. With the appalling catastrophe that has just happened in Japan it definitely is food for thought.

Here are some fascinating ‘moon’ facts…..

• The word "lunacy" is derived from Luna, the Roman goddess of the moon, and from the belief that the power of the moon can cause disorders of the mind.

• 12.4 hours is the time between two successive high and low tides. 24.8 hours is a "lunar day". Tides are greatest at new moon, when the gravitational pull of the sun and moon are both acting in the same direction. Because the moon is moving relative to the earth and the sun, the "lunar day" is not precisely 24 hours.

• The temperature on the Moon reaches 243° F at midday on the lunar equator. During the night, the temperature falls to -261° F.

• Wolves do not howl at the full moon any more often than at any other time of the month. They howl more frequently during the hours around sunrise and sunset, as they are more active then and also howl more often in the winter months than in the summer.