of full moons and surises and sunsets

The January full moon is  at aprox 2:30 Am EST on January 9th. And there is a lot going on besides that, On January 5th  the earth was closest to the sun, the perihelion, the earth is farthest from the sun in July, not really what one might expect?
It is also at this time the sunrises are the latest, on January  9th  the  sunrises will begin to get earlier,  even though the sunsets have been getting later since the Solstice on Dec. 21.  During the month we will gain roughly 48 minutes of daylight.

January Moon names

Man Moon (Taos).
Joyful Moon (Hopi).
Avunniviayuk (Inuit).
Quite Moon (Celtic).
Ice Moon (San Juan).
Cold Moon (Cheokee).
Ice Moon (Neo-Pagan).
Flying Ant Moon(Apache).
Big Cold Moon (Mohawk).
Cooking Moon (Choctaw).
Strong Cold Moon (Sioux).
Little Winter Moon (Creek).
Her Cold Moon (Wishram).
Cold Meal Moon (Natchez).
Moon After Yule (Cherokee).
Wolf Moon (Medieval English).
Strong Cold Moon (Cheyenne).
Quiet : Dark, Wolf : Full (Janic).
Great Spirit Moon (Anishnaabe).
Whirling Wind Moon (Passamaquoddy).
Wolf Moon, Old Moon, Winter Moon, Yule Moon (Algonquin).

Other moon names : Storm Moon, Snow Moon, Disting Moon, Chaste Moon

The Wolf Moon, Moon after Yule, Storm Moon, Owl Calling Moon, Gathering Moon, and the Celtic Quiet Moon.  It is a quiet moon, the only sounds being the bare frosted branches clattering in the wind, the wind itself and the occasional thud of snow falling from the hemlocks.  Squirrels cut spruce cones which rattle down the roof, and once in awhile an owl calls for a mate.  And there is little but the sound of your own crunching footsteps and your own breathing.  

Epiphany ramblings

You may call it Epiphany, 12th Night, Little Christmas, the feast of the Three Kings.  After you see what the Three Kings left fg\or you and cleaned the camel poop(black jelly beans) out of  the shoes you left by the door  for them to fill, it is near time to take down the lights , and all of the other bright trappings.  Read all of the newspapers and answer the notes, that got set aside during the holiday rush, sit back and enjoy the tree and the trappings without thinking about what needs to be planned for or done. Settle in for the cold season and dream about gardening, well if you are me you do that.

This is also the day for the blessing of the waters, originally this was connected to the the Baptism of the Christ by his cousin John the Baptist. 

Orthodox priests have long blessed the waters on either the 5th or the 6th.  Good water is becoming rare, and in need of prayers and healing attention from all of us.  Remember those creeks you played in and drank from as a child are very like too contaminated for people now.

  On a planet that is 3/4 ths or thereabout water covered, but there is precious little to drink, so make it a point to give your blessing to the waters and perhaps united we will stand one year to celebrate the return of clean waters.

first gelid morning

window  with frost ferns
 the woods  blanketed with snow

morning with coffee

a measure of time

Julius Caesar declared that the year started on  January 1st, or so it was told to me. January is named after the Janus, who having two heads/faces  also has two sets of eyes and can look backward and forward at the same time.  Janus was the the Roman god and guardian of gates and doors,  beginnings and endings and Janus also  governed the transitions of life. the transition from primitive to civilised, rural and city, war and peace, and the stages of life, birth , adolescence maturity and death. And  perhaps in choosing that Caesar was acknowledging the  parralell between the seasons and a life.
  
Though our calender year starts on the 1st of January, in other cultures it starts with the spring rains, or the autumnal dry season.  Or possibly on the date on which someone started their sober life, Samhain  ends the Celtic year, Christmas Day marks the passage of a year for some, clearly the beginning and ending of a year can be and has been marked in many different ways. 

The year is very simply a measure of time, as in the   commitment "a year and a day", or in the time it takes the earth to circle the sun.  Unlike the calendar year which always starts on Jan 1, in a year we define for ourselves we might hope to accomplish some task, or learn some skill, but still if this doesn't happen we have not failed, our resolution may not have been successful, but that doesn't mean that we cannot start all over again, the next day.