9 October 2014
The Short Answer (TSA)
The “Kindly Moon” is the moon
of the tenth month (or October) in the Chinese calendar. As with other “moons,” the Kindly Moon isn’t
just the Full Moon, but one, full cycle of lunar phases from New Moon to the
next New Moon.
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But let’s
get to the question. It’s fine to call
this moon “Kindly,” but what’s so kind about it? To the farmers of China, the “Kindly Moon”
wasn’t about harvesting so much as it was about planting. Centuries before western farmers planted
winter crops, Chinese farmers were planting winter wheat, which grows during
the winter season to be harvested in the spring.
The Kindly
Moon brought the first sprinklings of light snow. The weather was still warm enough to melt the
snow quickly. The moisture
from the melted snow would soften the earth for planting and, also, moisten the
earth enough to give the winter wheat seedlings a good start.
The tenth month
also includes the third and last yearly festival of the dead. Not
unlike the celebration of “All Souls Day” in traditional Christianity (2
November), during this time, the Chinese visit the final resting places of their ancestors. This festival focuses attention on
cemeteries. Offerings, such as flowers,
are left at grave sites and any needed maintenance of areas around the graves is completed before the onset of winter.
M Grossmann of Hazelwood, Missouri & Belleville,
Illinois
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