Oak Moon

An old European name for this Moon is the Oak Moon, a name that some believe ties back to ancient druid traditions of harvesting mistletoe from oak trees first recorded by the Roman historian Pliny the Elder in the 1st century CE. The term "druid" may derive from the Proto-Indo-European roots for "oak" and "to see," suggesting druid means "oak knower" or "oak-seer." Europeans also called this the Moon before Yule. Yule was a 3-day winter solstice festival. In the 10th Century King Haakon I associated Yule with Christmas as part of the Christianization of Norway, and this association is now common throughout Europe.


This beautiful sight came at the end of a long day, with a morning teleconference and an afternoon visit to Molly. Unfortunately, while we there she fell and tore the skin on a large part of her arm. Such a shame as she'd been quite perky when we arrived, and was keen to talk about the election and Christmas. It was interesting that neither she nor her partner, both staunch Conservative voters all their lives, could bring themselves to vote for the Tories this time round. 


This abhorrence of Boris Johnson's leadership isn't something that the biased press and media have spent much time reporting, preferring to spin a tale of disaffected Labour voters turning to the Tories. I rather dread what tomorrow might bring, but just hope that a strong turnout by women and the younger generation might have some positive effect and produce a hung Parliament which can help produce a kinder, more environmentally friendly society. Despite my Green inclinations, I shall be voting tactically for Labour in an effort to keep the Conservatives out of Peterborough.