The Full Moon in February
February 2012 :
Note: This article may contain outdated information
This article was published in the February 2012 issue of The Skyscraper and likely contains some information that was pertinent only for that month. It is being provided here for historical reference only.
As if we have nothing else to worry about these days, the argument as to how to refer to our celestial neighbors has come back to us. Apparently, calling our closest neighbors by a proper name doesn't seem to make sense to other astronomy-minded people. To many of us, our next-door sphere is the Moon. It is one of hundreds of moons in our solar system. Every one has its own name, and ours just happens to be Moon. We should be glad we have such a proportionately large satellite revolving around us, and should give it its due respect.
At this time of year, we're spending more time indoors, because of the weather. February is normally the coldest, worst-weather month we have. It happens to be right in the middle of our winter season, as witnessed by our celebration of February 2nd, Groundhog Day. This is one of our four cross-quarter days, those at the midpoint of each season. We all know legend has it that if the groundhog sees his shadow on that date, that we will have six more weeks of winter. Sorry, to say, whether he does or doesn't, as February 2nd is right in the middle of the three months of the winter season, we're having six more weeks of winter, anyway.
And, because February is normally the coldest, snowiest month of the year, next week's full Moon is normally called the Snow Moon; however, because the snows often cover whatever plant life might be still on the ground, and new shoots aren't able to push themselves above ground, food is scarce, resulting in the Hunger Moon. Especially vulnerable at this time of year are wolves, who also have to be sporadic feeders, causing them to howl from hunger. From this, came the Wolf Moon.
