What is a “Singing Moon”?

4 September 2014

The Short Answer (TSA)

            When the Full Moon suddenly bursts into song? No, nothing like that.  And, if the Moon could sing, who’s to say it could carry a tune.

            The “Singing Full Moon” comes in September according to old Celtic tradition.  The “Singing Moon” is more than just the Singing Full Moon.  The “Singing Moon” is a period of time, (about a month long), which begins with the New Moon before the September Full Moon and ends with the next New Moon after the September Full Moon.

            But what’s with the “singing?”  I can’t quite be sure.  The “singing” may refer to songs sung by the people celebrating when the fall harvest was done.  Or, the singing may refer to songs sung during the harvest as the people worked in the fields.  Of course, people may have sung both during and after the harvest.

            The Celtic tradition is so old, no one can be absolutely certain when or where the harvesters were singing – during or after the harvest.  In fact, a lot of Celtic history is lost to us.  What history we do have comes to us through traditions and traditional stories handed down over generations.

            The people called the Celts lived throughout Europe, but spoke a common language.  During the late-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a cultural movement swept the British Isles.  Called the Celtic Movement, it produced so much art and literature that the term Celtic is, now, often associated with the British Isles.

            Historical references to singing in the fields date back to the time of Shakespeare. And one of Shakespeare’s plays, The Tempest, includes a “Reapers Dance.”  The Golden Bough describes the custom of English harvesters to decorate the last sheaf of grain with ribbons and flowers.  The decorated sheaf was brought from the fields in the last cart while the harvesters sang.

M Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri
(& Belleville, Illinois)
4 September 2014
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