Lunar legends link past, present
The setting is England: a cold, rainy night. Against the advice of wary townspeople, two college students stray onto the moors.
Under the full moon, a beast attacks, leaving one student dead and the other a werewolf.
Beasts like this one — in the 1980s film "An American Werewolf in London" — are typically viewed as folklore. But the full moon's mystique continues to thrive.
"Maybe it's a coincidence, and maybe it's not," said teacher Polly Shaw, whose first-grade students at Haine Elementary School sometimes seem energized by the moon.
"I've been teaching 32 years, and I will not say (it occurs) every time there's a full moon … but there are times when the kids are way too silly and talkative, and then we'll notice there was a full moon. So yes, sometimes we do see it," Shaw said.
"It seems you get more disorderly conduct and bizarre behavior," agreed Jonathan Bayer, public information officer for the State Police in Butler.
"This is all off 18 years experience as a trooper, and I worked steady midnights for 10 years. … There seems to be something to this theory of full moons. It's kind of a running joke with us," Bayer added. "When something crazy's going on, we always question whether it's a full moon — and nine times out of 10, it is."
Shaw and Bayer are not alone: A recent poll on the Butler Eagle Web site showed that close to 75 percent of readers believe the moon affects our behavior. But how?
In Slippery Rock, a borough of about 2,500 full-time residents and 8,000 seasonal college students, police logs show only a slight change in crime on full moon days.With an annual average of .66 reported incidents occurring per day, a precise count reflected .75 on full moon days.The incidents include times in which police respond to a call or in which arrests are made.At Butler Memorial Hospital, data for the emergency room and maternity wards showed a lack of change:In 2005, an average 80 patients were admitted to the emergency room each day. The full moon average was 79 patients.Births at BMH averaged two per day, with full moon births at 2.08.For six random months last year, full moon calls to the Butler County Communications Center numbered 219 compared to 206 calls on days a week earlier — a difference of 6.3 percent.The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation also showed a slight rise: According to 2004 crash data, an average of 376 accidents were reported per day in the state. On the full moon, an average of 395 were reported. That is an increase of 5 percent.But calls last year to the crisis line at the Center for Community Resources Crisis Intervention Program showed more dramatic results, increasing from 18 to 22 — or 22 percent — during the full moon."That, to me, was very telling," said Mark Karaffa, director of community education in the BMH behavioral health department.Not entirely surprised by the crisis line numbers, Karaffa noted that measuring change with the human psyche is otherwise difficult."If you break your leg, I can tell you in six weeks what it's going to look like," he said, explaining most aspects of health care are "task oriented.""Mental health is a process. That's what makes it hard for people to understand. That's why measuring it is so subjective."
Although statistics vary regarding the moon's link to human behavior, no body of science is devoted strictly to the phenomenon, said Krishna Mukherjee, a professor in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at SRU.However, other kinds of change are documented.Despite a lack of concrete correlation with human behavior, researchers have found a link between the moon and plant growth.Studies at Wichita State University and Tulane University reveal seeds sown at the time of the full moon have a higher rate of germination. The result is attributed to more water absorbed from the soil, Mukherjee said.Other factors might include increased light or a slight effect on temperature.Likewise, apples, cabbages, potatoes and onions harvested during the waning phase of the moon exhibit a longer shelf life — probably due to a lower water content that helps to inhibit spoiling.Because germination is enhanced by the full moon, tilling is also recommended during the new moon to decrease germination of weed seeds brought closer to the surface."During the new moon, the moon and the sun are both on one side of the Earth," Mukherjee explained. "So you have the gravitational pull of both sun and moon."When the moon is full, the sun and moon are on opposite sides of the Earth. But the highest tides typically occur during both full and new moons, likely due to the moon's dominant pull. The moon, although smaller, is about 400 times closer — so it has a greater effect on the Earth, Mukherjee said."Some argue that because we're 80 percent water, it should affect us," Mukherjee noted of external gravitational pull that affects tidal movement of the Earth's water.But many scientists scoff at the idea of gravitational pull in humans, since the water in our bodies is "bound" instead of flowing freely in the environment.
But soil scientists aren't the only scholars observing the moon.Anthropologists, theologians and other professionals have also taken notice.According to Esther Skirboll, a professor of anthropology at SRU, the moon pertains to anthropology because its religious significance predates Christianity around the globe."The people I have studied the most are the pre-Colombians like the Inca, the Aztecs and the Maya," said Skirboll, who chairs SRU's Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work. "I know the Aztecs and the Maya had moon goddesses, and we have archeological evidence of that," she said."The moon is so visible in the sky. For people who don't have electricity, the moon and stars were a very important part of their lives. Many of them had religious figures, like moon goddesses. The deity would usually be a female because the menstrual cycle of the human female is about the same as the cycle of the moon," she said."In Judaism, the entire ritual calendar is lunar — and Easter and Passover are linked — so Judaism and Christianity are quite linked."Tom Bodie has also encountered a lunar presence in Christian traditions.Bodie, who is completing a divinity degree at the Pittsburgh Theological Seminary, belongs to the Ginger Hill Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Slippery Rock.Since Ginger Hill is a lay-led congregation without a primary designated pastor, Bodie has interacted with Christian and non-Christian members through participation in Sunday services."Easter itself has its roots in the Scandinavian celebration of Eostre, who was the fertility goddess," said Bodie, who fulfills many of the spiritual and pastoral needs at Ginger HillSince themonth April derives from the pagan Month of the Goddess Eostre in lunar Germanic calendars, Bodie speculated the Virgin Mary could be one example of how pagan holdovers occur in Christianity.Although the moon is sometimes referenced in such pagan beliefs surrounding fertility, a more notable holdover includes the dating of Easter, which falls on the first Sunday following the first full moon on or after the Spring Equinox, he said.Coinciding with solstice, Christmas also links to pagan traditions also said to include Yule logs and trees, Bodie added."Almost every indigenous religion aside from perhaps Christianity has had some moon (aspect) to it," he said.
