Harvest moon
The harvest moon is the full moon closest to the September equinox, and for a few nights it rises soon after sunset. That steady early light once let farmers keep working after dark.
What it may mean
What sets the harvest moon apart is timing, not looks. Most nights the moon rises almost an hour later than the night before, but around the September equinox the gap shrinks a lot in northern latitudes, so for several nights in a row a bright moon comes up soon after the sun goes down. Before electric light, that meant field work could go on past sunset without a break into darkness. The harvest moon was extra time at the close of the day, handed out for a week. Few of us harvest crops now, but the extra hour still asks something familiar: when the day stretches longer than planned, do you fill it with more work, or do you step outside and stop? Its light is the same either way.
Depending on how you saw it
Moonrise and sunset at the same time
On the night of the harvest moon you can sometimes stand in an open field with the sun going down at your back and the moon coming up in front. Day and night overlap for a few minutes. Which two sides of your week overlap more than you notice?
Seeing it over city rooftops
Downtown, the harvest moon often shows up between buildings or over a highway, a big orange disk that makes drivers glance twice. You do not need a farm to see it, only a gap in the skyline. Where in your ordinary route is there a gap worth looking through?
The hunter's moon a month later
The full moon after the harvest moon is often called the hunter's moon, and it too rises early for several nights. One season of work hands over to the next. What task in your year always follows another, like a second shift?
Under your pillow during harvest week
An old English fortune-telling chapbook offered a charm said to work only while the harvest moon lasted, involving a prayer book, a ring, a key and four playing cards under the pillow. What do you only try during one special week of the year?
Why it happens in nature
The harvest moon is the full moon nearest the September equinox. At that time of year the moon's path meets the eastern horizon at a shallow angle after sunset in mid-northern latitudes, so it rises only about half an hour later each night, or less, instead of nearly an hour, and bright moonlight follows sunset for several nights. Near the horizon it often looks orange because its light crosses more air.
What folk beliefs say
England
A charm in an edition of the English chapbook Mother Bunch, said to work only while the harvest moon lasted, had a girl sleep with a prayer book under her pillow, open at "With this ring I thee wed" and laid with a key, a ring and cards, to read her future in that night's dreams.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 2 (1849), vol. 2, p. 33. View the page
Isle of Man
A Manx tale tells of a fairy banished from fairyland for leaving the fairy court during the harvest moon to dance in Glen Rushen, and doomed to roam the Isle of Man as the shaggy phynnodderee.
Source: John Brand; Henry Ellis (ed.), Observations on the Popular Antiquities of Great Britain, vol. 3 (1849), vol. 3, pp. 414-415. View the page
To reflect on
When you get unexpected extra time after a day's work, what do you spend it on?