Moon Legends

IL MONDO GIRA CON ME QUESTA NOTTE
PICCOLI PASSI CHE FACCIO CON TE
SEGUO IL TUO CUORE E SEGUO LA LUNA
COSI' NASCOSTA LONTANA DA ME
IL MONDO GIRA CON NOI QUESTA NOTTE
UN POSTO DOVE SCOPRIRE IL MIO CUORE
SAPERE SE LUI PUO' AMARE TI O NO

(From Gira Con Me)

The moon has been remarkably beautiful lately. From the Blue Moon during New Years to this month’s crescent, I’ve been spending a lot of time just looking and admiring la luna. In Tagalog, we call the moon buwan which is very close to the Chamorro name of pulan. Here are a couple of stories about her that I like.

A CHAMORRO LEGEND
The Chamorro people believed that two mythical siblings Puntan and Fuuna created the world that we know. They lived before the world was created for many many years. When the benevolent Puntan was about to die, he instructed his sister Fuuna to create from his chest the earth, and his back, the sky. His eyebrows were made into rainbows. His eyes became the sun and the moon.

A GREEK LEGEND
Endymion the shepherd,
As his flock he guarded,
She, the Moon, Selene,
Saw him, loved him, sought him,
Coming down from heaven
To the glade of Latmus,
Kissed him, lay beside him,
Blessed is his fortune,
Evermore he slumbers,
Tossing not nor turning,
Endymion the shepherd.
(from Mythology by Edith Hamilton)

Ah, to be loved for eternity! Ah, and to sleep!

AN IRISH LEGEND

There were two villages separated by a dark dried up bog in the Irish countryside. At night, the villagers were never afraid to visit their neighbors from the opposite village because of the moon’s warm light. The moon always lit the night, keeping at bay the dark and evil creatures from harming people. In fact, it used to visit the earth quite often.

One night, the moon got curious and went down the dried up bog. While it was distracted, the dark and evil creatures captured the moon and buried it in the middle of the bog. The creatures took over the night and villagers, afraid for their lives, could no longer voyage across the dark dried up bog. “What happened to the moon?” they asked each other.

One day, an old woman gathered the villagers. She told them that she knows where to find the moon. “Tonight, each of you will carry with you a small pebble and we will venture through the dark bog to free the moon!” That night, the old woman instructed the villagers to put the pebbles in their mouths as a reminder not to make any noise that may alert the dark and evil creatures of the bog of their presence.

When they got to a big mound of earth, the old woman suspected that the moon was buried there. She instructed the villagers to dig quickly but quietly. Little by little, they revealed the bright surface of the moon, until at last, it was free! The moon flew quickly towards the sky, away from the bog. The moon will never again venture too close to the earth and the villagers were never again scared to venture across the bog!

A NORSE LEGEND

It is said that the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill had its origins in the Icelandic myth of brother and sister, Hjúki and Bil. Máni, the embodiment of the moon god, captured the siblings as they were fetching water from a well called Byrgir. Their story unfolds in the phases of the moon as it waxes and wanes, as Hjúki falls down and Bil tumbling after.

I am sure that you know other great stories about the moon. I hope you have a few moments this week to appreciate her beauty.

Ti napu.

The Beachcomber