In human culture of our planet, the moon enjoys an exalted position. All faiths here regard this natural satellite of our Earth with great esteem. Hindus consider him as one of their myriad deities. The followers of Islam see divinity in him. Their sacred Ramadan month begins with the sight of a particular phase of the moon and concludes with another such sight. This second sight is called ‘Eid ka chand’. Christians pay reverence to this heavenly body. Buddhists believe full moon days as holy. This is because Lord Gautam Buddha’s birth, His renouncing of the world and His death all took place on different full moon days.
Children have affection for moon. Therefore various nursery rhymes have been formed on moon in different languages. A Hindi song “Chandamama door ke”, a Marathi poem “Chandoba-chandoba” and an English rhyme “I see the moon-the moon sees me” are some instances. In India children lovingly call moon as their ‘mama’ meaning maternal uncle! There is a legend wherein once little Ram asked for moon in the sky at his mother Kausalya. He would not listen to anyone and remained determined on his demand. Kaikaee had an idea. She brought a mirror from inside her room and handed it over to bal Ram. Seeing the reflection of moon in the mirror, the child was delighted.
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Romantics and poets are fascinated by this celestial wonder. This is why innumerable songs and poems have been written hitherto on this satellite. There are several of them in Hindi movies. Songs like “Adha hai chandrima-raat adhi”, “Khoya – khoya chand” and “Tu mera chand –main teri chandani” are quite charming. A beautiful Konkani song “Channyachya raatee” highlights the magnificence of the moon which is a symbol of love and an important witness of love relations. This might have been the reason for calling a holiday taken by a newly married couple as honeymoon!
Moon is regarded as masculine in our culture. His other names are: Shashi, Nishakar, Rajaninath and Somadev. But people in the West regard it as female and call her goddess Luna. A great number of poems in English language are written on moon. Of them, P B Shelly’s “To the moon” gained much popularity. In the above poem, the poet thinks that the moon is pale because she is tired of constantly travelling over the sky and always gazing upon the earth. The moon has to wander among stars which are different from her in nature and origin. She is thus without a companion or a comrade.
Moon is not a planet. It is a satellite. There are about 180 satellites in our solar system. But our Earth has only one of them. This satellite brings about rising and falling of seas.
Moon is an excellent instance of change. It is never constant. It keeps on changing every day. All through any month, we see different phases of moon in the sky. Some big, some small. And one day we see the phase of moon in which its whole disc is lit up. This day is called full moon. And on another day the moon is not seen in the sky. This day is called New Moon.
