NOVEMBER - SNOW MOON The Moon of November is also called Dark Moon, Fog Moon, Beaver Moon, Mourning Moon, Blotmonath (Sacrifice Month), Herbistmanoth (Harvest Month), Mad Moon, Moon of Storms, and Moon When Deer Shed Antlers. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Irish name for both Samhain/All Saints and the month is La Shamhna. The Anglo-Saxon name for the month, Blotmonath (Sacrifice Month), is inidicative of the time for killing the livestock that could not be kept through the winter months. The modern Asatru call this month Fog Moon, after the most common weather for the month. The American backwoods tradition call this moon Beaver Moon. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Old Sayings & Lore The modern Asatru festival of the Einherjar, the heroes who guard the Gods is observed on November 11. St. Martin's Day is also observed on November 11, and served as the New Year of olden times in the Isle of Man. This was also called Old November Day, Martinmas, or Hollantide, and was considered a weather marker for the year. Fine weather on this day was known as St. Martin's Summer: If ducks do slide at Hollantide, At Christmas they will swim. If ducks do swim at Hollantide, At Christmas they will slide. Winter is on his At St. Martin's Day. To cry for the Moon is an old saying that means you are craving or demanding something you can't have. A waning Moon is considered an unlucky time for marriage or birth. The Moon is considered feminine in English, French, Italian, Latin, and Greek; but in all the Teutonic languages the Moon is masculine. In Sanskrit, the word for the Moon is mas, which is masculine. To the Chinese, the Old Man in the Moon was Yue-lao. It was his duty to predestine the marriages or mortals. They said he tied the future husband and wife together with an invisible silk cord that never parted as long as they live. Although the Koran expressly forbids worshipping the Sun or Moon, many Moslems still clasp their hands at the sight of a New Moon and offer a prayer.