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Full Moon Facts and Fiction
updated: Jun 08, 2009, 6:17 AM
Last night was the official full moon for June, which got me thinking about and researching a little bit about some of the strange things that are presumed to happen when it's full.
Many claim that crime rates escalate during full moons or that the emergency rooms at hospitals get extra busy. Wikipedia factoids state that full moons are traditionally associated with temporal insomnia, insanity (hence the terms lunacy and lunatic) and various "magical phenomena" such as lycanthropy. Psychologists, however, have found that there is no strong evidence for effects on human behavior around the time of a full moon. They find that studies are generally not consistent, with some showing a positive effect and others showing a negative effect. In one instance, the December 23, 2000, issue of the British Medical Journal published two studies on dog bite admissions to hospitals in England and Australia. The study of the Bradford Royal Infirmary found that dog bites were twice as common during a full moon, whereas the study conducted by the public hospitals in Australia found that they were less likely. However, Dr. Timo Partonen of the Finnish National Public Health Institute carried out a study of 1,400 suicides and found that people were more likely to make an attempt on their life when there was a new moon.
Many neopagans hold a monthly ritual called an Esbat at each full moon, while some people practicing traditional Chinese religions prepare their ritual offerings to their ancestors and deities on every full and new moon.
The term "blue moon" traditionally referred to an extra moon in a season: if a season had four full moons (rather than the more common three), then the third of the four moons was known as a blue moon. A season in this sense begins not with the months, but with the solstices and equinoxes, as described on blue moon. The next "blue moon" will be in December, 2009 with full moons on December 2 and December 31.
It takes about 1.25 seconds for moonlight to reach the Earth.
The term "honeymoon" is derived from the Babylonians who declared mead, a honey-flavored wine, the official wedding drink, stipulating that the bride's parents be required to keep the groom supplied with the drink for the month following the wedding.
You can find all this information and more on Wikipedia.
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