Pssst! You! Yeah, you... are a passenger on a planet... on a blue-green planet that's orbiting a golden star. And right now we are traveling through a part of our orbit that we call July - a good time to remember that a month is a moonth. A moonth is a month. It's the time the moon takes to orbit us. Long ago our months were actual moonths. But Julius Caesar fabricated an extra month and named it after himself: July. Caesar Augustus fabricated an extra month and named it after himself: August. So, September is now the ninth month, even though sept means seven. October is now the tenth month, even though oct means eight. November is now the eleventh month, even though nov means nine. December is now the twelfth month, even though dec means ten. Yes, our calendar months are out of alignment with our moon's journey around us; they are mere sheets of paper. Fortunately, there are still many cultures (including the Herbrew, Islamic, Chinese and Hawaiian) where a calendar month is still an actual moonth. In these cultures you know when a month begins because you see it in the sky.

The moon's cyclical journey around us is the rhythm of woman's fertility. A menstruating woman in native American cultures is said to be "on her moon." This doesn't mean she is perched on that rock up in the sky. It means she is synchronized with its cycle.

Hawaiians call the moon mahina, and their word for woman is wahine. When Hawaiians and other indigenous people talk about the moon they are referring to its cycle - and to every activity that's synchronized with this rhythm, including woman's menstrual cycle. Of course, this cycle involves the protecting, caring and nourishing of the womb. Malama, the Hawaiian word for protecting, caring and nourishing, also means moonlight and lunar month. Malama, in Samoan, means the ninth month of pregnancy.

Women were our earliest astronomers. But these gals were not aiming for careers in science. They were asking each other, "How can we avoid bringing more babies into the world than our eco-system can provide food for?" They recognized the need for population control by regulating their sexual activity. This meant knowing when they were fertile. Observing that their fertility cycle is synchronized with the lunar cycle, they kept track of the moon. Their earliest known records of this were etched onto animal bones 40,000 years ago. This record-keeping for purposes of birth control became our first calendars, which were lunar. Today's scientific term for the calculation of time is mensuration. Originally, mensuration meant "knowledge of the menses," and it gave us our word, measurement. Even today in the Gaelic language of the Celtic people, the words for calendar and for menstruation are the same.

This is Harriet Witt, your guide for this little ride on our passenger planet.


If you have any questions, drop Harriet an email: harriet@passengerplanet.com


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