Mulberry Moon

Is today’s Full Moon (which occurred for me at 3:03 AM) the Harvest Moon? That is one of the Full Moon names that varies in the month that it occurs. You might be harvesting in your locale, but the Harvest Moon is traditionally the full moon that occurs closest to the autumn equinox. Most years, that is in September, though it can be in October. This year the equinox is on September 22, so the October 5th full moon is closer than the one on September 6. No Harvest Moon just yet.

September and October’s  moon when called Harvest and Hunter both share the idea that these moon’s particularly bright appearance and early rising aided farmers’ harvesting times and offered more light to stalk game.

The September and October Full Moons are sometimes said to be larger and even more orange in color. The warmer color of the moon might be seen shortly after it rises because of an optical illusion. When the moon is low in the sky, you are looking at it through more atmospheric particles and pollution than when the moon is overhead, so the atmosphere scatters the bluish component more than the red end of the light. That’s also conversely why moonlight is often seen and depicted as blue from the reflected white light from the sun.

Are these moons bigger? Well, not because the Moon is closer but because we perceive a low-hanging moon to be larger than one that’s high in the sky. This “Moon Illusion” can be seen with any full moon.

From the Choctaw people, I have selected the Mulberry Moon as the name for this month’s Full Moon. The Choctaw are a Native American people originally occupying what is now Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, and Louisiana.

Mulberries are multiple or collective fruits, formed from a cluster of fruiting flowers. Each flower in this inflorescence produces a fruit, but these mature into a single mass. Botanically the mulberry is not a berry but a collective fruit. It looks like a swollen loganberry.

The small fruits swell, change color from red to a darker color and are fat and full of juice.  The color of the fruit does not identify the mulberry species, and there are white mulberries that produce white, lavender or black sweet fruit. Red mulberry fruits are similar but not quite as sweet as the black mulberry. It is the black mulberry fruits that are large and juicy, with a nice sweet and tart balance that gets them the best reviews. Some compare the tartness to a grapefruit. Mulberries also ripen over an extended period of time, so they don’t have to be picked all at once.

The most commonly used name for this month is the Corn Moon. The Celtic name is the Singing Moon and an English Medieval name was the Barley Moon.

There are many Indian tribal names for the Full Moons and they vary widely as they are centered in signs from nature in their geographic area. Moon When the Plums Are Scarlet is used by the Lakota Sioux, and Moon When the Deer Paw the Earth by the Omaha tribe. The Haida of Alaska would call this the Ice Moon, but the Dakotah Sioux call it the Moon When The Calves Grow Hair. The Cree tribe of Northern Plains Canada call this the Snow Goose Moon.

Ice and snow are thankfully not part of September here in Paradelle.

The full moon of September as seen from the northern hemisphere corresponds to the full moon of March as seen from the southern hemisphere, so you southerners can read my Whispering Wind Moon post today.