DECEMBER FULL MOON

MANIDOO-GIZIISOONS....

...THE LITTLE SPIRIT MOON

Sunday, 9:00 AM.  34 degrees F at the ferry dock, 29 on the back porch.  Wind SW, mostly calm with light gusts.  The sky is partly cloudy with some low overcast, the humidity 100%.  The barometer is beginning to fall, now at 30.32".  Highs today and Monday will be around 40, then temperatures will drop, with rain tomorrow.  I think we have had our Indian summer.
   I was driving through Washburn yesterday evening as the full moon rose, an unbelievably beautiful sight on a cloudless evening.  I turned toward the lake and drove out on the old coal dock to look at it, and there were a number of cars there with people who had the same spontaneous idea, and a lot, like myself, were taking photos.  Tonight will be a so-called supermoon, when the full moon is closest to the earth in its orbit.  It evidently didn't qualify for that nomination last evening but it must have been pretty close.
   The December full moon is called Manidoo-Giziisoons, the Little Spirit Moon, in the Ojibwe language.  Looking at the spectacular  moon, it was easy to understand how the Indians kept track of time by counting the moons, without emphasizing years, particularly since they were a largely pre-agricultural society that didn't have the necessity of determining exact spring planting times.