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Ablue moon refers either to the presence of a secondfull moon in a calendarmonth, to the third full moon in aseason containing four, or to a moon that appearsblue due to atmospheric effects.[2]
Thecalendrical meaning of "blue moon" is unconnected to the other meanings. It is often referred to as “traditional”,[3][4] but since no occurrences are known prior to 1937 it is better described as aninvented tradition or “modern American folklore”.[5] The practice of designating the second full moon in a month as "blue" originated with amateur astronomer James Hugh Pruett in 1946.[6] It does not come fromNative American lunar tradition, as is sometimes supposed.[7][8]
The moon – not necessarily full – can sometimes appear blue due to atmospheric emissions from large forest fires or volcanoes, though the phenomenon is rare and unpredictable (hence the saying “once in a blue moon”).[9][10][11] A calendrical blue moon (by Pruett's definition) is predictable and relatively common, happening 7 times in every 19 years (i.e. once every 2 or 3 years).[2] Calendrical blue moons occur because thetime between successive full moons (approximately 29.5 days) is shorter than the average calendar month.[12] They are of no astronomical or historical significance, and are not a product of actuallunisolar timekeeping orintercalation.
A 1528 satire,Rede Me and Be Nott Wrothe, contained the lines, “Yf they saye the mone is belewe / We must beleve that it is true.”[13] The intended sense was of an absurd belief, like themoon being made of cheese. There is nothing to connect it with the later metaphorical or calendrical meanings of “blue moon”. However, a confusion ofbelewe (Middle English, “blue”)[14] withbelǽwan (Old English “to betray”)[15]) led to afalse etymology for the calendrical term that remains widely circulated, despite its originator having acknowledged it as groundless.[16][17][18]
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem "Alastor" (1816)[19] mentioned an erupting volcano[19]: 7 and a “blue moon / Low in the west.”[19]: 14 It was written at a time when the eruption ofMount Tambora was causing global climate effects, and not long before the first recorded instances of “blue moon” as a metaphor.
The OED citesPierce Egan’sReal Life in London (1821) as the earliest known occurrence of “blue moon” in the metaphorical sense of a long time. (“How's Harry and Ben?—haven't seen you this blue moon.”)[20] An 1823 revision of Francis Grose’s ‘’Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue’’, edited by Egan, included the definition: “Blue moon. In allusion to a long time before such a circumstance happens. ‘O yes, in a blue moon.’”[21] An earlier (1811) version of the same dictionary had not included the phrase, so it was likely coined some time in the 1810s.[22] "Once in a blue moon" is recorded from 1833.[2]
The use of blue moon to mean a specific calendrical event dates from 1937, when theMaine Farmers' Almanac used the term in a slightly different sense from the one now in common use. According to the OED, “Earlier occurrences of the sense given in theMaine Farmers' Almanac have not been traced, either in editions of the Almanac prior to 1937, or elsewhere; the source of this application of the term (if it is not a coinage by the editor, H. P. Trefethen) is unclear.”[2] The conjecture of editorial invention is further supported by the spurious explanation the almanac gave:
The Moon usually comes full twelve times in a year, three times in eachseason... However, occasionally the moon comes full thirteen times in a year.This was considered a very unfortunate circumstance, especially by themonks who had charge of the calendar. It became necessary for themto make a calendar of thirteen months, and it upset the regular arrangementof church festivals. For this reason thirteen came to be considered anunlucky number. Also, this extra moon had a way of coming in each ofthe seasons so that it could not be given a name appropriate to the timeof year like the other moons. It was usually called the Blue Moon... In olden times the almanacmakers had much difficulty calculating the occurrence of the Blue Moonand this uncertainty gave rise to the expression "Once in a Blue Moon".[4]
There is no evidence that an extra moon in a month, season or year was considered unlucky, or that it led to13 being considered unlucky, or that the extra moon was called "blue", or that it led to the phrase "once in a blue moon". There is good reason to suspect that the 1937 article was a hoax, practical joke, or simply misinformed. It is however true that the date of the Christian festival ofEaster depended on an accuratecomputation of full moon dates, and important work was done by the monksDionysius Exiguus andBede, explained by the latter inThe Reckoning of Time, written c725 CE. According to Bede, “Whenever it was a common year, [the Anglo-Saxons] gave three lunar months to each season. When an embolismic year occurred (that is, one of 13 lunar months) they assigned the extra month to summer, so that three months together bore the name ‘‘Litha’’; hence they called [the embolismic] year ‘‘Thrilithi’’. It had four summer months, with the usual three for the other seasons.” The name Litha is now applied by someNeo-Pagans tomidsummer.[23]
The 1937Maine Farmers' Almanac article was misinterpreted by James Hugh Pruett in a 1946Sky and Telescope article, leading to the calendrical definition of “blue moon” that is now most commonly used, i.e. the second full moon in a calendar month. “A blue moon in the originalMaine Farmers' Almanac sense can only occur in the months of February, May, August, and November. In the later sense, one can occur in any month except February."[2] This later sense gained currency from its use in a United States radio programme,StarDate on January 31, 1980 and in a question in theTrivial Pursuit game in 1986.[24][25]
Several songs have been titled "Blue Moon", seen as a "symbol of sadness and loneliness."[25]
The moon (andsun[26]) can appear blue under certain atmospheric conditions – for instance, if volcanic eruptions or large-scale fires release particles into the atmosphere of just the right size to preferentiallyscatter red light.[10] According to the Encyclopaedia Britannica, scattering is the cause of “that epitome of rare occurrences, the blue Moon (seen when forest fires produce clouds composed of small droplets of organic compounds).”[9]
ARoyal Society report on the 1883Krakatoa eruption[27] gave a detailed account of “blue, green, and other coloured appearances of the sun and moon” seen in many places for months afterwards.[27]: xiii . The report mentioned that in February 1884 an observer in central America saw the crescent moon as “a magnificent emerald-green” while itsashen part was “pale green”. Venus, bright stars and a comet were also green.[27]: 173 The report authors suspected that green moons were a contrast effect, since in those cases the surrounding sky was seen as red.[27]: 203
People saw blue moons in 1983 after the eruption of theEl Chichón volcano in Mexico, and there are reports of blue moons caused byMount St. Helens in 1980 andMount Pinatubo in 1991.[28]
The moon looked blue after forest fires in Sweden and Canada in 1950 and 1951,[29] On September 23, 1950, severalmuskeg fires that had been smoldering for several years in Alberta, Canada, suddenly blew up into major—and very smoky—fires. Winds carried the smoke eastward and southward with unusual speed, and the conditions of the fire produced large quantities of oily droplets of just the right size (about 1 micrometre in diameter) to scatter red and yellow light. Wherever the smoke cleared enough so that the sun was visible, it was lavender or blue. Ontario, Canada, and much of the east coast of the United States were affected by the following day, and two days later, observers in Britain reported an indigo sun in smoke-dimmed skies, followed by an equally blue moon that evening.[28][30]
Ice particles might have a similar effect. The Antarctic diary ofRobert Falcon Scott for July 11, 1911 mentioned "the air thick with snow, and the moon a vague blue".[31]
The key to a blue moon is having many particles slightly wider than the wavelength of red light (0.7 micrometer)—and no other sizes present. Ash and dust clouds thrown into the atmosphere by fires and storms usually contain a mixture of particles with a wide range of sizes, with most smaller than 1 micrometer, and they tend to scatter blue light. This kind of cloud makes the moon turn red; thus red moons are far more common than blue moons.[32]
Blue moon as a calendrical term originated with the 1937Maine Farmers’ Almanac, a provincial U.S. magazine that is not to be confused with theFarmers' Almanac,Old Farmer's Almanac, or otherAmerican almanacs. There is no evidence of “blue moon” having been used as a specific calendrical term before 1937, and it was possibly invented by the magazine’s editor, Henry Porter Trefethen (1887-1957).[2] As a term for the second full moon in a calendar month it began to be widely known in the U.S. in the mid-1980s and became internationally known in the late 1990s when calendrical matters were of special interest given the approaching millennium. It created a misapprehension that the calendrical meaning of “blue moon” had preceded the metaphorical one, and inspired variousfolk etymologies, e.g. the “betrayer” speculation mentioned earlier, or that it came from a printing convention in calendars or a saying in Czech.[33] A 1997 Taiwanese movie,Blue Moon, had thelog line “There is usually only one full moon every month, but occasionally there are two – and that second full moon is called the Blue Moon. It is said that when a person sees a blue moon and makes a wish, he will be granted a second chance in things.”[34]
In 1999 folklorist Philip Hiscock presented a timeline for the calendrical term.[35] First, the August page of the 1937Maine Farmers' Almanac ran a sidebar claiming that the term was used “in olden times” for an extra full moon in a season, and gave some examples (21 November 1915, 22 August 1918, 21 May 1921, 20 February 1924, 21 November 1934, 22 August 1937, and 21 May 1940). Six years later, Laurence J. Lafleur (1907-66) quoted the almanac in the U.S. magazineSky & Telescope (July 1943, page 17) in answer to a reader’s question about the meaning of “blue moon”. Then James Hugh Pruett (1886-1955) quoted it again inSky & Telescope (March 1946, p3), saying “seven times in 19 years there were — and still are — 13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called Blue Moon”. In 1980 the term was used (with Pruett’s definition) in a U.S. radio program,Star Date, and in 1985 it appeared in a U.S. children’s book,The Kids' World Almanac of Records and Facts (“What is a blue moon? When there are two full moons in a month, the second one is called a blue moon. It is a rare occurrence.”)[36] In 1986 it was included as a question in Trivial Pursuit (likely taken from the children’s book), and in 1988 a forthcoming blue moon received widespread press coverage.
In 1999 U.S. astronomerDonald W. Olson researched the original articles and published the results in aSky & Telescope article co-authored with Richard T Fienberg and Roger W. Sinnott. From the examples given by Trefethen in the 1937Maine Farmers’ Almanac they deduced a “rule” he must effectively have used. “Seasonal Moon names are assigned near the springequinox in accordance with theecclesiastical rules for determining the dates ofEaster andLent. The beginnings of summer, fall, and winter are determined by thedynamical mean Sun. When a season contains four full Moons, the third is called a Blue Moon.”[37][38] They termed this the “Maine rule” for blue moons, as distinct from Pruett’s 1946 definition that was seen to have been a misinterpretation.
In popular astronomy the Maine rule is sometimes called the “seasonal”,[39] “true”[40] or “traditional”[41] rule (though of course no tradition of it exists prior to 1937). Blue moons by Pruett’s definition are sometimes called “calendar blue moons”.[42] The "seasonal" blue moon rule is itself ambiguous since it depends which definition ofseason is used. The Maine rule used seasons of equal length with the ecclesiastical equinox (March 21). An alternative is to use the astronomical seasons, which are of unequal length.
There is also reference in modern popular astrology to “zodiacal blue moons”.[43]
The table below has blue moon dates and times (UTC) calculated according to Pruett’s “calendar” rule (second full moon in a calendar month) and two versions of the “seasonal” rule (third full moon in a season with four). The Maine rule uses equal-length seasons defined by the dynamical mean sun, and is presumed to have been the original rule of Trefethen.[38] The “astro-seasonal” rule uses the unequal astronomical seasons defined by the apparent sun. All calculations are by David Harper.[44]
The fourth column shows blue moon dates that were actually printed in theMaine Farmers’ Almanac, as found by Olson, Fienberg and Sinnott in 1999. They studied issues published between 1819 and 1962, and found that all mentions occurred between 1937, when H.P. Trefethen introduced the term, and 1956, when Trefethen’s editorship ended (consistent with it being Trefethen’s own invention). Occasional discrepancies between the Maine rule and the almanac’s printed dates can be ascribed to clerical errors or miscalculation. In one case (August 1945) Trefethen appears to have used the apparent rather than mean sun.[37]
The table shows that in 200 years there are 187 full moons that could be called "blue" by some definition - an average of nearly one per year. Two Pruett blue moons can occur in a single year (1915, 1961, 1999, 2018, 2037, 2094). 1915 had four blue moons (two Pruett, one Maine, one astro-seasonal). 1934 and 2048 have three (one of each type).
Despite the 187 blue moons appearing across the 200 years in this table, only 146 years have any of these 3 types of blue moons, leaving 54 years (thus averaging just over 1 year in every 4) which have none of the 3 rules represented in that calendar year.
While not totally unexpected (given the overlapping frequencies of these 3 rules), it so happens there are not any 2 sequential years (at least within these 200) wherein none of the 3 types of blue moon occur.
Conversely, despite the preponderance of years with blue moons (of at least 1 type) occurring in this 200-year range, there are no instances of more than 4 sequential years having a blue moon, of any of these 3 types -- i.e. at least 1 year out of every 5 sequential years has none of the 3 types appearing.
| Year | Pruett rule[45] | Maine rule[46] | Astro-Seasonal[46] | Almanac[37] |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1901 | Jul 31 at 10:35 | |||
| 1902 | May 22 at 10:46 | May 22 at 10:46 | ||
| 1904 | Mar 31 at 12:45 | |||
| 1905 | Feb 19 at 18:52 | Feb 19 at 18:52 | ||
| 1906 | Nov 30 at 23:07 | |||
| 1907 | Aug 23 at 12:15 | Aug 23 at 12:15 | ||
| 1909 | Aug 31 at 05:06 | |||
| 1910 | Aug 20 at 19:14 | Aug 20 at 19:14 | ||
| 1912 | May 30 at 23:29 | |||
| 1913 | Feb 21 at 02:03 | May 20 at 07:18 | ||
| 1915 | Jan 31 at 04:42 | |||
| 1915 | Mar 31 at 05:36 | Nov 21 at 17:36 | Aug 24 at 21:40 | Nov 21 |
| 1917 | Sep 30 at 20:31 | |||
| 1918 | Aug 22 at 05:02 | Aug 22 at 05:02 | Aug 22 | |
| 1920 | Jul 30 at 23:17 | |||
| 1921 | May 21 at 20:15 | May 21 at 20:15 | May 21 | |
| 1923 | Apr 30 at 21:31 | |||
| 1924 | Feb 20 at 16:07 | May 18 at 21:52 | Feb 20 | |
| 1925 | Oct 31 at 17:15 | |||
| 1926 | Aug 23 at 12:38 | Aug 23 at 12:38 | summer | |
| 1928 | Aug 31 at 02:35 | |||
| 1929 | May 23 at 12:50 | Aug 20 at 09:42 | spring | |
| 1931 | May 31 at 14:31 | |||
| 1932 | Feb 22 at 02:07 | May 20 at 05:09 | winter | |
| 1933 | Dec 31 at 20:53 | |||
| 1934 | Mar 31 at 01:15 | Nov 21 at 04:26 | Aug 24 at 19:37 | Nov 21 |
| 1936 | Sep 30 at 20:59 | |||
| 1937 | Aug 22 at 00:47 | Aug 22 at 00:47 | Aug 22 | |
| 1939 | Jul 31 at 06:37 | |||
| 1940 | May 21 at 13:33 | May 21 at 13:33 | May 21 | |
| 1942 | Apr 30 at 21:58 | |||
| 1943 | Feb 20 at 05:45 | May 19 at 21:13 | Feb 20 | |
| 1944 | Oct 31 at 13:36 | |||
| 1945 | Nov 19 at 15:13 | Aug 23 at 12:03 | Aug 23 | |
| 1947 | Aug 31 at 16:33 | |||
| 1948 | May 23 at 00:37 | Aug 19 at 17:32 | May 23 | |
| 1950 | May 31 at 12:44 | |||
| 1951 | May 21 at 05:45 | May 21 at 05:45 | May 21 | |
| 1952 | Dec 31 at 05:06 | |||
| 1953 | Nov 20 at 23:12 | Aug 24 at 20:21 | Nov 20 | |
| 1955 | Oct 31 at 06:03 | |||
| 1956 | Aug 21 at 12:38 | Aug 21 at 12:38 | Aug 21 | |
| 1958 | Jul 30 at 16:46 | |||
| 1959 | May 22 at 12:56 | May 22 at 12:56 | ||
| 1961 | Jan 31 at 18:46 | |||
| 1961 | Apr 30 at 18:41 | Nov 22 at 09:44 | ||
| 1962 | Feb 19 at 13:18 | May 19 at 14:32 | ||
| 1963 | Nov 30 at 23:55 | |||
| 1964 | Nov 19 at 15:43 | Aug 23 at 05:25 | ||
| 1966 | Aug 31 at 00:13 | |||
| 1967 | May 23 at 20:22 | Aug 20 at 02:27 | ||
| 1969 | May 31 at 13:17 | |||
| 1970 | May 21 at 03:38 | May 21 at 03:38 | ||
| 1971 | Dec 31 at 20:18 | |||
| 1972 | Nov 20 at 23:07 | Nov 20 at 23:07 | ||
| 1974 | Oct 31 at 01:20 | |||
| 1975 | Aug 21 at 19:48 | Aug 21 at 19:48 | ||
| 1977 | Jul 30 at 10:52 | |||
| 1978 | May 22 at 13:17 | May 22 at 13:17 | ||
| 1980 | Mar 31 at 15:13 | |||
| 1981 | Feb 18 at 22:58 | Feb 18 at 22:58 | ||
| 1982 | Dec 30 at 11:31 | |||
| 1983 | Nov 20 at 12:29 | Aug 23 at 14:59 | ||
| 1985 | Jul 31 at 21:40 | |||
| 1986 | Aug 19 at 18:54 | Aug 19 at 18:54 | ||
| 1988 | May 31 at 10:54 | |||
| 1989 | Feb 20 at 15:32 | May 20 at 18:16 | ||
| 1990 | Dec 31 at 18:36 | |||
| 1991 | Nov 21 at 22:56 | Nov 21 at 22:56 | ||
| 1993 | Sep 30 at 18:54 | |||
| 1994 | Aug 21 at 06:47 | Aug 21 at 06:47 | ||
| 1996 | Jul 30 at 10:35 | |||
| 1997 | May 22 at 09:13 | May 22 at 09:13 | ||
| 1999 | Jan 31 at 16:05 | |||
| 1999 | Mar 31 at 22:50 | |||
| 2000 | Feb 19 at 16:27 | Feb 19 at 16:27 | ||
| 2001 | Nov 30 at 20:49 | |||
| 2002 | Nov 20 at 01:34 | Aug 22 at 22:29 | ||
| 2004 | Jul 31 at 18:05 | |||
| 2005 | Aug 19 at 17:53 | Aug 19 at 17:53 | ||
| 2007 | Jun 30 at 13:48 | |||
| 2008 | Feb 21 at 03:30 | May 20 at 02:11 | ||
| 2009 | Dec 31 at 19:11 | |||
| 2010 | Nov 21 at 17:27 | Nov 21 at 17:27 | ||
| 2012 | Aug 31 at 13:56 | |||
| 2013 | Aug 21 at 01:44 | Aug 21 at 01:44 | ||
| 2015 | Jul 31 at 10:41 | |||
| 2016 | May 21 at 21:14 | May 21 at 21:14 | ||
| 2018 | Jan 31 at 13:27 | |||
| 2018 | Mar 31 at 12:35 | |||
| 2019 | Feb 19 at 15:53 | May 18 at 21:11 | ||
| 2020 | Oct 31 at 14:47 | |||
| 2021 | Nov 19 at 08:57 | Aug 22 at 12:02 | ||
| 2023 | Aug 31 at 01:35 | |||
| 2024 | Aug 19 at 18:25 | Aug 19 at 18:25 | ||
| 2026 | May 31 at 08:44 | |||
| 2027 | Feb 20 at 23:23 | May 20 at 10:59 | ||
| 2028 | Dec 31 at 16:48 | |||
| 2029 | Nov 21 at 04:02 | Aug 24 at 01:51 | ||
| 2031 | Sep 30 at 18:56 | |||
| 2032 | Aug 21 at 01:46 | Aug 21 at 01:46 | ||
| 2034 | Jul 31 at 05:54 | |||
| 2035 | May 22 at 04:25 | May 22 at 04:25 | ||
| 2037 | Jan 31 at 14:01 | |||
| 2037 | Mar 31 at 09:53 | |||
| 2038 | Feb 19 at 16:09 | May 18 at 18:23 | ||
| 2039 | Oct 31 at 22:36 | |||
| 2040 | Nov 18 at 19:05 | Aug 22 at 09:09 | ||
| 2042 | Aug 31 at 01:59 | |||
| 2043 | Aug 20 at 15:04 | Aug 20 at 15:04 | ||
| 2045 | May 30 at 17:51 | |||
| 2046 | May 20 at 03:15 | May 20 at 03:15 | ||
| 2048 | Jan 31 at 00:13 | Nov 20 at 11:19 | Aug 23 at 18:06 | |
| 2050 | Sep 30 at 17:31 | |||
| 2051 | Aug 22 at 01:34 | Aug 22 at 01:34 | ||
| 2053 | Jul 30 at 17:03 | |||
| 2054 | May 21 at 15:16 | May 21 at 15:16 | ||
| 2056 | Mar 31 at 10:22 | |||
| 2057 | Feb 19 at 11:56 | May 18 at 19:02 | ||
| 2058 | Oct 31 at 12:51 | |||
| 2059 | Nov 19 at 13:09 | Aug 23 at 09:41 | ||
| 2061 | Aug 30 at 22:17 | |||
| 2062 | Aug 20 at 03:55 | Aug 20 at 03:55 | ||
| 2064 | May 30 at 10:34 | |||
| 2065 | May 20 at 02:05 | May 20 at 02:05 | ||
| 2066 | Dec 31 at 14:40 | |||
| 2067 | Mar 30 at 20:07 | Nov 20 at 23:49 | Nov 20 at 23:49 | |
| 2069 | Sep 30 at 18:06 | |||
| 2070 | Aug 21 at 19:53 | Aug 21 at 19:53 | ||
| 2072 | May 31 at 22:15 | |||
| 2073 | May 21 at 10:02 | May 21 at 10:02 | ||
| 2075 | Apr 30 at 18:35 | |||
| 2076 | Feb 19 at 23:48 | May 18 at 17:38 | ||
| 2077 | Oct 31 at 10:36 | |||
| 2078 | Nov 19 at 12:52 | Aug 23 at 08:11 | ||
| 2080 | Jul 31 at 19:12 | |||
| 2081 | Aug 19 at 11:15 | Aug 19 at 11:15 | ||
| 2083 | May 31 at 09:41 | |||
| 2084 | May 20 at 02:36 | May 20 at 02:36 | ||
| 2085 | Dec 30 at 23:57 | |||
| 2086 | Nov 20 at 20:12 | Nov 20 at 20:12 | ||
| 2088 | Sep 30 at 15:25 | |||
| 2089 | Aug 21 at 06:15 | Aug 21 at 06:15 | ||
| 2091 | Jul 30 at 11:58 | |||
| 2092 | May 21 at 10:00 | May 21 at 10:00 | ||
| 2094 | Jan 31 at 12:35 | |||
| 2094 | Apr 30 at 13:54 | |||
| 2095 | Feb 19 at 06:59 | May 19 at 09:21 | ||
| 2096 | Oct 31 at 11:13 | |||
| 2097 | Nov 19 at 13:03 | Aug 22 at 23:52 | ||
| 2099 | Aug 30 at 17:55 | |||
| 2100 | Aug 19 at 21:29 | Aug 19 at 21:29 |
Onelunation (an average lunar cycle) is 29.53 days. There are about 365.24 days in atropical year. Therefore, about 12.37 lunations (365.24 days divided by 29.53 days) occur in a tropical year. So the date of the full moon falls back by nearly one day every calendar month on average. Each calendar year contains roughly 11 days more than the number of days in 12 lunar cycles, so every two or three years (seven times in the 19 yearMetonic cycle), there is an extra full moon in the year. The extra full moon necessarily falls in one of the four seasons (however defined), giving that season four full moons instead of the usual three.[47][48][49]
Given that a year is approximately 365.2425 days and a synodic orbit is 29.5309 days,[50] then there are about 12.368 synodic months in a year. For this to add up to another full month would take 1/0.368 years. Thus it would take about 2.716 years, or 2 years, 8 months, and 18 days for another Pruett blue moon to occur. Or approximately once in 32.5 months on an average.
When there are two Pruett blue moons in a single year, the first occurs in January and the second in March or April, and there is no full moon in February.[51][52]
The next timeNew Year's Eve falls on a Pruett blue moon (as occurred on December 31, 2009 in time zones west of UTC+05) is after one Metonic cycle, in 2028 in time zones west of UTC+08. At that time there will be atotal lunar eclipse.
Note that the blue colour surrounding the Moon in these images is the result of atmospheric and camera effects. The Moon itself does not change colour.
A seasonal Blue Moon is the traditional definition of a Blue Moon and refers to the third full moon in a season that has four full moons according to NASA.
The 1937 Maine Farmer's Almanac reveals the traditional meaning of "Blue Moon."
So, 'blue moon' as most of us today know it, is modern American folklore, but with a long interesting history involving calendars and the measuring of the year. Still, no matter what meaning you give it, blue moons are pretty rare, and everyone knows what you mean when you say "once in a blue moon!"
Some three years later, in March 1946, an article entitled "Once in a Blue Moon" appeared in Sky & Telescope (page 3). Its author, James Hugh Pruett (1886-1955), was an amateur astronomer living in Eugene, Oregon, and a frequent contributor to Sky & Telescope. Pruett wrote on a variety of topics, especially fireball meteors. In his article on Blue Moons, he mentioned the 1937 Maine almanac and repeated some of Lafleur's earlier comments. Then he went on to say, "Seven times in 19 years there were — and still are — 13 full moons in a year. This gives 11 months with one full moon each and one with two. This second in a month, so I interpret it, was called Blue Moon."
While this name is not Native American, it is included here for completeness.
{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)... may cause the moon to have a blue tinge since the red light has been scattered out.
belewe, variant of blue, adj. and n.
Neither the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), nor the Online Etymology Dictionary provide any support for the idea that the term "blue moon" has any connection to Old English belǽwan "to betray". To the contrary, the OED indicates that the "blue" in "blue moon" is derived from the familiar color word, which is a loanword from French (although French in turn got the word from a Germanic language). The OED does indicate that the color word blue was spelled "belewe" in some Middle English manuscript or manuscripts.
Many years ago in the pages of Natural History magazine, I speculated that the rule might have evolved out of the fact that the word "belewe" came from the Old English, meaning, "to betray." "Perhaps," I suggested, "the second full Moon is 'belewe' because it betrays the usual perception of one full moon per month." But as innovative as my explanation was, it turned out to be completely wrong.
One explanation connects it with the word belewe from Old English, meaning, "to betray." Perhaps, then, the Moon was "belewe" because it betrayed the usual perception of one full Moon per month? That would make sense.
Quite where the term blue moon came from is unclear. It may be a mispronounciation of the disused word "belewe" which means 'to betray'. This may be a reference to the betrayal of the usual idea of having one full moon in each month or perhaps the "betrayal" by the Moon of worshippers attempting to determine the position and duration of Lent in the calendar year.
I've checked with several native speakers of Czech and found nothing like "blue Moon." Secondly, an e-mail correspondent told me several years ago that calendar printers would always print a full Moon in red except when it was the second one in a month; then it would be printed in blue! That sounded wonderfully plausible -— until I looked at older calendars and found none that were so.
It's a seasonal Blue Moon: the third of four full moons to occur in a single season.
The full Moon of Sunday, August 22nd, will be a "Blue Moon" according to the original — but not the most popular — definition of the phrase.
Editors and contributors to Sky & Telescope have traced the traditional astronomical definition to the Maine Farmers' Almanac in the late 1930s.
There are two kinds of blue moons, but they don't actually look blue. One type is called a calendar blue moon, and the other type is a seasonal blue moon.
The zodiac blue moons can occur in any month between the 18th to the 23rd day of the month.
