“Go outside! Go outside and look! It’s a blue moon!” Rushing outside, expecting the equivalent to Tinker Bell’s blue harvest moon, those who knew no better hurried to see the sight, only to be absolutely, utterly, disappointed. Releasing a sigh, feeling the adrenaline rush fizzle away, we realized, “It’s not blue…”

The night of August 30th was a blue moon, big whoop. Due to the name, it was easy to expect something spectacular and magical, as if out of a movie, but nope: just a regular, plain old full moon. So what if it was the second full moon in the month? Why on Earth would you call it blue? There was no amazing blue moon standing out amongst the clouds. All that could be seen was a bright, white, full moon.

Makes you wonder if the people who named it purposely wanted to deceive the ignorant. Did they have to be so cruel?

Sure, it’s interesting that there were two full moons in a single month – August should feel special – but why would something not-blue, be called blue? Call it something like the second moon. Or, round-two moon. There were so many fun possibilities that made much more sense than a blue moon. Maybe it was an attempt at irony? If so, not funny.

Not everyone was duped by the blue moon; they enjoyed the sight and got a good laugh out of the fact some people really thought it would be blue. These well-informed, practical jokers found joy in the sight of the second full moon of the month. Others enjoyed the astrological meaning behind the moon: a chance to “release negative energy and manifest abundance.”¹

Yet, that still doesn’t explain why the blue moon is called blue in the first place. The explanation of the name has to do with the rarity of the blue moon. A lot of times, when something rarely occurs, the phrase “once in a blue moon” gets thrown around. However, way back when, in the 16th century people would use the idiom “the moon is blue” to express something impossible, not rare. When the first blue moon was sighted, people coined the name, basing it on the expression, because the event seemed impossible.²

Nonetheless, as one of the ones who knew no better, the blue moon experience was an absolute zero out of ten, no stars: it’s not blue.