September 27 / 28 sees a rare total Lunar eclipse of a Super Full Moon. The term Blood Moon is said to have come from the dull reddish colour of the Moon at total eclipse. This particular full Moon can also be known as the Harvest Moon. As the Moon is at its closest point to the Earth at this time it can look larger and brighter than usual.
Whilst I normally loath unsolicited email I was fascinated by the following in an email I received today from a Chinese company which I had used in the past:
".... tomorrow is the traditional Chinese Moon festival, it's a big holiday in China. .... Here is some introduction about this festival: The August Moon Festival or Mid-Autumn Festival is one of the traditional Chinese holidays. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month.
Chinese legends say that the moon is at its brightest and roundest on this day. For this festival, there is a very famous girl, we call 'Chang Er', she is the Moon FairyLady. The story about the lady took place around 2170 B.C. At that time, the earth had ten suns circling it, each taking its turn to illuminate to the earth. But one day all ten suns appeared together, scorching the earth with their heat. The earth was saved by a strong and tyrannical archer named Hou Yi. He succeeded in shooting down nine of the suns.
One day, Hou Yi stole the elixir of life from a goddess. However, his beautiful wife Chang Er drank the elixir of life in order to save the people from her husband's tyrannical rule. After drinking it, she found herself floating and flew all the way to the moon. Hou Yi loved his divinely beautiful wife so much, he refused to shoot down the moon.
People believed that the lady was a god who lived in the moon that made the moon shine. Girls who wanted to be a beauty and have a handsome husband should worship the moon. And on this magical occasion, children who make wishes to the Lady on the Moon will find their dreams come true."
In the USA the Lunar eclipse will be seen towards midnight 27/28th and in the UK around 3.45 a.m. on the 28th. All depending on clear skies of course.
Looking forward to the eclipse, I shall probably settle down on a garden chair with a glass of something fortifying! The moon will be a low one, but should still be an easy view from gardens
ReplyDeleteLet's just hope that it is a clear sky - so often our events like this happen on cloudy nights.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping for clear skies and will be out with my camera. We should start seeing a change around 8:00 pm, so that makes it easy. Cool story about Chang Er.
ReplyDeleteIt was perfect here but I slept through it. I'm not best pleased as I had everything ready. I remembered to boil up the hand warmers that I attach to the lens and then blew it by being idle.
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