THE MOON AND THE MOUNTAINS

One thing I found rather unusual when I first moved to the mountains, was the fascination with the moon and the locals.

I have always loved to see the moon in a starry sky and was aware of course that the moon changes the tides but was not at all superstitious about the moon, until now!  Well except as a child my brothers used to try and scare me by saying it is a full moon and the werewolf will come out tonight and get me!

Certainly the older locals believe in the powers of the moon and it rules their every day lives.  They have moon calendars which helps them to plan, for example...  on which day it is best to cut your hair, colour your hair, plant your vegetables, harvest your vegetables, there are certain days when they believe that you should not have an injection as the moon is not right and therefore you will have more pain or not get the full effect.  I guess this is to do with the waxing moon (getting bigger) and the waning moon (getting smaller).


Plenty of us follow the zodiac signs which is all influenced by the state of the moon at a certain time and place.

I regularly hear people complain of having had a bad nights sleep then follow it up with "it must be the full moon!"  I have sat in the hairdressers and there is not another person in there and of course it's because the moon is not right, same as I have tried to make a hair appointment when obviously the moon is right and they are completely full.


My neighbours have their wood delivered in the form of massive tree trunks, which they leave in their drive until the moon is right and they then all  come out en-mass and help to chop and stack the wood together, often working late into the night to make full use of the moon before it changes.

When we rebuilt our house we had to wait until the moon was right before the locals would fit the water pipes to the mountain water  source, saying we have to wait for the moon!  I remember thinking have they gone completely mad!  How can they afford the time to wait nearly a month until the moon is right to do this.  But local folk won't work against the moon, they believe that it will bring bad luck.  Same as cutting your hair, if you cut it at the wrong time it will not grow fast, yet cut it at the right time and your hair will grow quicker and be healthy.  Plant your seeds on a waxing moon and they will grow a treat, plant on a waning moon and be prepared to wait.

So how do we know if the moon is waxing or waning... well again something I have learned since being a "Mountain Frau".  If the moon is visible in the evening sky then it is waxing (getting bigger). If the moon is visible in the early morning sky then it is waning (getting smaller).

My daughter recently sprinkled her spinach and salad seeds and they grew a treat, we now laugh and joke that it must be the moon!  In fact it has become a bit of a household saying for us when something goes either to plan or not...  "it must be the moon"

So next time you plant your vegetables or flowers in the window boxes, make a hair appointment, beauty appointment, go to the doctors or travel anywhere,  take a moment to consider the state of the moon, I am sure there is plenty of truth in this, they can't all be wrong, can they?