It is 7:25 PM on Monday September 25th, 2017. The sun has recently set and there is a deep orange twilight that is slowly fading away. The moon is in a waning crescent as September comes to a close. I’ve written about this before but I never really connected the days and months with celestial bodies and never really understood much about stars and the movements how we came to keep track of time by the movements of those lights in the sky. It seems simple now but it was through my study of Spanish as well as living here on the coast where I started to get a fuller picture.
There is no moon, then through out the month it gets larger reaching a full moon then slowly fades away. This is what we call a month or to make it easier a “moonth.” The Earth spins with the sun rising in the east and setting in the west. The days are named after the moon and stars – Wikipedia entry :
- Sunday = Sun day
- Monday = Lunes (Monday in Spanish) – Luna (Moon in Spanish = Monday or Moon Day
- Tuesday = Martes = Mars = Mars Day
- Wednesday = Miercoles = Mercury Day
- Thursday = Jueves = Jupiter Day
- Friday = Viernes = Venus Day
- Saturday = Sabado = Saturn Day
Months (Website)
- January – Janus – God of beginnings
- February – Februra – The Feast of Purification
- March – Mars – Month of Mars
- April – Aprilis – Aphrodite – Goddess of love
- May – Maius – Goddess of Spring
- June – Junius – Goddess of Juno – Queen of the Gods
- July – Julius (Caesar) – Originally Quintilis – 5th month of Roman calendar
- August – August (Caesar) – Originally Sextilis – 6th month of Roman calendar
- September – Septembre – 7th month of Roman calendar
- October – October – 8th month of Roman calendar
- November – November – 9th month of Roman calendar (Nine)
- December – Decembre – 10th month of Roman calendar (decem Ten + membri from mens Month + ri suffix
*Note Caesar was originally described as ‘to cut’ – Caesar born by Caesarian section. But Mental Floss adds more to the story. See this link: http://mentalfloss.com/article/50179/how-did-caesarean-sections-get-their-name
In regards to the stars, I never differentiated between the planets and the stars before. Now I realize that the sun and planets travel along a similar path and all the other ‘stars’ are actually suns from different solar systems within our own milky way and other galaxies.
There is always so much more to learn and the more one digs the greater the mystery of the universe and everything in it becomes.
As for the moon I never really understood why it waxes and wanes and now I understand that the illuminated portion is what is facing the sun from our perspective. The moon is traveling around the earth and it takes a “moonth” to do so.
In other thoughts I was thinking about great American novels and the thoughts and mindset the authors had to create such great works. I then thought about all the garbage we’re subjected to these days and how they clutter our thoughts. I’m not thinking about life in the country, a boy and his dog, life on the Mississippi, an adventure across the country or anything like that. My mind is focused on if my life is going to dramatically change due to North Korea and what that would mean for me and my family. The times and our environment give rise to our thoughts and this creates our life experience.
I then thought about the excitement of my high school years and how I no longer feel such excitement as I did back then. Being 40 is a very busy time and the emotions are dulled quite a bit being busy with kids and activities all the time.
And speaking of which I hear my youngest crying so I better get back inside to help out. So much for deep thoughts on this calm Monday night. The time is now 7:54 PM and it is almost time for bed. Another day in my life has come to an end.
