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The Moon is the source of many folk tales, myths, and legends.
Europeans once saw a face on the lunar surface and called it the Man in the Moon. He was thought to be jailed there for some terrible crime. Hawaiians gazing at the Moon saw a woman, while Mayans saw a rabbit. All of these Moon myths do have one thing in common. They were people’s attempts to explain something that seemed unexplainable.
▲ The first people to study the heavens seriously were astrologers in ancient Babylon. They believed that the way the Sun, Moon, and stars lined up could bring good or bad luck. Astrology laid the foundation for the science of astronomy. But scientists now think of astrology as a superstition.
◀ In 376 B.C., Athenian philosopher Anaxagoras (an-aks-AG-oo-ras) correctly explained why eclipses happen. He was the first person to figure it out. But he also said that the Sun and Moon were not gods, so he was chased out of Athens.
▲ Ancient Chinese astronomers could tell when eclipses were coming. However, they also believed supernatural things happened during a solar eclipse. They thought the Moon’s shadow was an invisible dragon eating the Sun. They shot arrows into the sky and banged gongs to chase it off. People in Africa, North America, and the Pacific Islands have also used noise to “save” the Sun.
◀ In the Middle Ages, Europeans believed in werewolves, or people who changed into wolves. The monsters supposedly came out and attacked during the full Moon.
In 1504, Christopher Columbus and his crew were stranded in Jamaica. The native people refused to help them. Three days before a lunar eclipse was supposed to happen, Columbus told the chiefs that God was angry at them and would show it in the heavens. The chiefs didn’t believe him. When the eclipse began, they rushed to bring Columbus food. ▶
Check It Out!
When does “once in a blue Moon” actually occur?
In 1946, the magazine Sky and Telescope made a mistake. It said that a blue Moon was a second full Moon in a calendar month, which was something unusual. Actually, a blue Moon is the third full Moon during a season that has four full Moons. That’s also unusual. Sky and Telescope did not catch the error until 1999. But by then, the wrong definition had been widely reported and is now commonly believed.
The first known calendars were based on the phases of the Moon. Today, we use the 365-day solar Gregorian calendar. That’s based on the time it takes Earth to orbit the Sun. Months (from the word moon) are a tribute to the 29.5 days it takes to go from one new Moon to another. ▶
Johannes Kepler was an astronomer who studied the orbits of planets. He wrote that Moon craters were built by aliens. In the early 1800s, German astronomer F. P. Gruithuisen proved him wrong. Gruithuisen showed that craters were caused by objects hitting the Moon’s surface. But he hurt his reputation by also saying he had seen a walled city on the Moon!
Think Piece!
Painters and photographers explore the way the Moon seems to change. What mood do you think Vincent van Gogh was trying to capture with this painting?
◀ The Moon has long been important in religions. You can see the crescent Moon on top of Muslim places of worship, or mosques. It is also on the flags of some Muslim countries, such as Turkey.
