The moon is our nearest heavenly body and, as such, has played a pivotal role in human existence influencing tides, farming, divination, lovers, body cycles and much more. It’s important in romantic songs, such as Blue Moon.

A Blue Moon is also the event of having an extra full moon in one of the four seasons, usually occurring in one calendar month having two full moons. This is fairly rare, occurring every two or three years. Almost as rare as seeing a Bicycle Moon! Hence we have the expression “once in a blue moon.” At times the moon can actually take on a bluish tint as the result of some volcanic eruptions and forest fires, which emit smoke and dust particles into the atmosphere. It makes you wonder if many expressions have some basis in reality.

The Old Farmer’s Almanac suggests planting and harvesting dates based on the moon’s sign and phase. Last month we had a lunar eclipse on the Harvest Moon, which is the full moon closest to the fall equinox. This was also a Blood Moon, which makes the moon appear reddish instead of going completely dark when the Earth moves between the sun and the moon. The red colour is produced by atmospheric conditions on Earth, and it has been thought by some to be a sign of the apocalypse.

The Harvest Full Moon is aptly named because it allowed farmers in the northern hemisphere to have light while harvesting a crop at night. Harvest time is also festival time.

Last month’s Chinese Mid-Autumn Festival is celebrated as well on the closest full moon to the fall equinox. It’s a harvest festival and moon cakes are sacrificed to the moon to pay homage to its role in agricultural production.

The next full moon is October 27, not too far from Halloween, which actually has its origin as a harvest festival. It dates back 2,000 years to Celtic priests, the druids. The harvest season marked the end or death of the Celtic calendar year (October 31) signaling the coming of cold and darkness.

It was also the time when the souls of the dead were believed to visit their relatives who would provide food for them to avoid dire consequences and so evolved our tradition of trick
or treat.

The next full moon is also known as Full Hunter’s Moon. According to the Farmer’s Almanac, northeastern indigenous peoples would hunt at this time in preparation for winter. Certainly, the New England Pilgrims in 1620 were indebted to indigenous hunters who helped them survive their first winter by supplying them with food and introducing them to corn production and the catching of eel. In 1621, the Pilgrims had a great feast to celebrate their first and successful harvest. And wild turkey comprised a part of the feast. They invited almost twice as many indigenous people as their own numbers, which had dwindled from 100 to 50 after the first winter. It was a real thanksgiving on so many levels.

Finally our Bicycle Moon is indicative of all the pleasures a bike can bring: lovers riding together while singing, the exhilaration of speeding downhill on a summer’s day in the country, filled with the sensual scent of plants and trees, riding next to the ocean, the crisp crackle made when riding through fall leaves, and the wonder of bicycling through the moon.