BLUE MOON AND OTHER BLUES

On August 27, 2008 the planet Mars will appear to the naked eye to be as large as the moon and therefore it will look as if there are two moons during August. Mars will be 34.65 million miles from Earth. Synchronicity of this is that I had been researching about blue moons! Here is my research and this Mars event is once in a blue moon.

Have you ever wondered what the phrase means, once in a blue moon? In my research, I learned that it means an irregular timed full moon that occurs every two to three years. A full moon is usually a 30-day cycle with about 11 days left over. It is said that these days carry over and there occurs two full moons in one month. Thus came the saying, once in a blue moon. Apparently there is a blue colored moon and it is a rare event when it literally becomes visible. The first photo on the right is a NASA photo.

No, the photo shown on the left is not a blue moon. It is a photo of the Earth taken by a satellite and it is titled the Blue Marble. In 1933, Bing Crosby made the song Where the Blue of the Night popular and the lyrics go on to say Where the blue of the night meets the gold of the day. I take it to mean it is the brief moments just before the sun goes down beyond the horizon and the descent into night.

The second NASA photo on the right is of a blue sun. The photo was taken when the sun was emitting extreme ultraviolet rays. These colors for both the sun and moon happen when they are going through phases of the Visible Light spectrum and do not often occur.

With the blue moon metaphorically described as a rare event, there is also the apt description of a blue rose. A true blue rose is rare and its meanings are mystery, impossible and enchantment.

In researching the various meanings of terms we use, I wondered where the term Blue Monday came from and apparently Monday is considered to be a sad day because people have to return to work after a week-end. This led me to the term I feel blue. The original meaning came into being from rains and thunder storms. It is the hue of that portion of the visible spectrum lying between green and indigo. Therefore people began thinking of it as dark and dreary. Feeling Blue is also associated with a custom among old deep water sailing ships. When a ship lost the captain or any of its officers during a voyage, the ship would fly blue flags to and also have a band of blue painted along the ships hull when it returned to its home port.

In Greek mythology, it is said the god Zeus would make rain when he was sad and a storm when he was angry. old deep water sailing ships. Therefore, the feeling said and using the word blue goes back to ancient times.

This leads into singing the blues. The genre of Blues is attributed to African-American music, which came into popularity as far back as 1912. It originated during the times of slavey when the slaves sang work songs, spirituals, field hollers and shouts and chants. It has within it a blue note that is sung or played at a slightly lower pitch than that of the major musical scale. The Blues has become the roots of jazz, rythm and blues and bluegrass to name a few.

Blues may be associated with sadness, depression and loss, however from this terminology I can see a depth of beauty that is unsurpassed. It is all an interpretation.