Note date change to avoid conflict with Seabrook Island Birders event
Sunset – 5:53 pm
Moonrise – 7:24 pm
High Tide (Rockville): – 9:11 pm
~ Full Wolf Moon ~
~ Full Blue Moon ~
The January 2 bonfire was cancelled in anticipation of our cold and snowy introduction to 2018. So it’s time to get together with friends and neighbors in better weather around a nice warm fire. The actual full moon is Wednesday and the lunar eclipse is early (5:51 am) Wednesday morning. Our bonfire date should still have a beautiful bright moon rising out of the ocean. Boardwalk 1 reconstruction is substantially complete allowing for easier access to the beach.
To keep things simple, each person brings what you want: food, drinks, chairs and a stick of firewood for a big bonfire. Nothing will be provided but a beautiful beach, a bonfire and, hopefully, a full moon.
Put these dates for the Full Moon bonfires on your calendar:
Thursday, March 1
Saturday, March 31
Sunday, April 29
There’s always plenty of room on the beach for everyone, so invite a friend or bring your house guests.
How the Full Moon got its name
Per Old Farmers Almanac (https://www.almanac.com/content/full-moon-names):
January: Full Wolf Moon – This full moon appeared when wolves howled in hunger outside the villages. It is also known as the Old Moon. To some Native American tribes, this was the Snow Moon, but most applied that name to the next full moon, in February.
Blue Moon: Occasionally, two full moons occur within the same calendar month. The first full moon goes by the name normally assigned to that month’s full moon, but the second full moon is called a Blue Moon. Blue Moons occur about every 2½ years—maybe “once in a Blue Moon” isn’t really that special after all! Therefore, the January 31 full moon was officially the Blue Moon. February has no full moons and then we have two full moons again in March.
Black Moon: In contrast to the Blue Moon, the Black Moon refers to a month in which there is no full moon. It may also refer to a second new moon occurring within a calendar month.
From Farmers Almanac (https://www.farmersalmanac.com/full-moon-names/):
Full Wolf Moon – January amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full moon. Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Some called it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the next moon.
I found another web site (http://newsclipper.hubpages.com/hub/The-Moon-Facts-Trivia-and-Folklore). This site also says the Cherokee Indians called it the Cold Moon and the English Medieval name was Wolf Moon.
–Submitted by Judy Morr