Moon

Harvest Moon Festival of the Chinese Lunar Calendar, its second most important celebration after Chinese New Year.

Furthermore, association of time with the Moon can also be found in religion, such as the ancient Egyptian temporal and lunar deity Khonsu.

### Cultural representation

Further information: Cultural astronomy, Archaeoastronomy, Lunar deity, Selene, Luna (goddess), Crescent, and Man in the Moon

See also: Nocturne (painting) and Moon magic

Recurring lunar aspects of lunar deities

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/bc/Sumerian\_Cylinder\_Seal\_of\_King\_Ur-Nammu.jpg/200px-Sumerian\_Cylinder\_Seal\_of\_King\_Ur-Nammu.jpg

The crescent (Nanna/Sîn, c. 2100 BC)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Patera\_di\_Parabiago\_-\_MI\_-\_Museo\_archeologico\_-\_Diana\_-\_Luna\_-\_25-7-2003\_-\_Foto\_Giovanni\_Dall%27Orto\_-\_25-7-2003.jpg/200px-Patera\_di\_Parabiago\_-\_MI\_-\_Museo\_archeologico\_-\_Diana\_-\_Luna\_-\_25-7-2003\_-\_Foto\_Giovanni\_Dall%27Orto\_-\_25-7-2003.jpg

Crescent headgear and chariot (Luna, 2nd–5th century)

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/ad/Goddess\_O\_Ixchel.jpg/200px-Goddess\_O\_Ixchel.jpg

A Moon rabbit (Mayan moon goddess, 6th–9th century)

Since prehistoric and ancient times humans have drawn the Moon and have described a range of understandings of it, having prominent importance in different cosmologies, often exhibiting a spirit, being a deity or an aspect, particularly in astrology.

For the representation of the Moon, especially its lunar phases, the crescent symbol (🌙) has been particularly used by many cultures. In writing systems such as Chinese the crescent has developed into the symbol 月, the word for Moon, and in ancient Egyptian it was the symbol 𓇹, which is spelled like the ancient Egyptian lunar deity *Iah*, meaning Moon.

Iconographically the crescent was used in Mesopotamia as the primary symbol of Nanna/Sîn, the ancient Sumerian lunar deity, who was the father of Innana/Ishtar, the goddess of the planet Venus (symbolized as the eight pointed Star of Ishtar), and Utu/Shamash, the god of the Sun (symbolized as a disc, optionally with eight rays), all three often depicted next to each other. Nanna was later known as Sîn, and was particularly associated with magic and sorcery.

The crescent was further used as an element of lunar deities wearing headgears or crowns in an arrangement reminiscent of horns, as in the case of the ancient Greek Selene or the ancient Egyptian Khonsu. Selene is associated with Artemis and paralleled by the Roman Luna, which both are occasionally depicted driving a chariot, like the Hindu lunar deity Chandra. The different or sharing aspects of deities within pantheons has been observed in many cultures, especially by later or contemporary culture, particularly forming triple deities. The Moon in Roman mythology for example has been associated with Juno and Diana, while Luna being identified as their byname and as part of a triplet (*diva triformis*) with Diana and Proserpina, Hecate being identified as their binding manifestation as *trimorphos*.

The star and crescent (☪️) arrangement goes back to the Bronze Age, representing either the Sun and Moon, or the Moon and planet Venus, in combination. It came to represent the goddess Artemis or Hecate, and via the patronage of Hecate came to be used as a symbol of Byzantium, possibly influencing the development of the Ottoman flag, specifically the combination of the Turkish crescent with a star. Since then the heraldric use of the star and crescent proliferated becoming a popular symbol for Islam (as the *hilal* of the Islamic calendar) and for a range of nations.

In Roman Catholic Marian veneration, the Virgin Mary (Queen of Heaven) has been depicted since the late Middle Ages on a crescent and adorned with stars. In Islam Muhammad is particularly attributed with the Moon through the so-called splitting of the Moon (Arabic: انشقاق القمر) miracle.

The contrast between the brighter highlands and the darker maria have been seen by different cultures forming abstract shapes, which are among others the Man in the Moon or the Moon Rabbit (e.g. the Chinese Tu'er Ye or in Indigenous American mythologies, as with the aspect of the Mayan Moon goddess).

In Western alchemy silver is associated with the Moon, and gold with the Sun.

### Modern culture representation

See also: Moon in science fiction and List of appearances of the Moon in fiction

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ea/Van\_Gogh\_-\_Starry\_Night\_-\_Google\_Art\_Project.jpg/193px-Van\_Gogh\_-\_Starry\_Night\_-\_Google\_Art\_Project.jpg

The Moon is prominently featured in Vincent van Gogh's 1889 painting, *The Starry Night*.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d5/Melies\_color\_Voyage\_dans\_la\_lune.jpg/201px-Melies\_color\_Voyage\_dans\_la\_lune.jpg

An iconic image of the Man in the Moon from the first science-fiction film set in space, *A Trip to the Moon* (1902), inspired by a history of literature about going to the Moon.

The perception of the Moon in modern times has been informed by telescope enabled modern astronomy and later by spaceflight enabled actual human activity at the Moon, particularly the culturally impactful lunar landings. These new insights inspired cultural references, connecting romantic reflections about the Moon and speculative fiction such as science-fiction dealing with the Moon.

Contemporarily the Moon has been seen as a place for economic expansion into space, with missions prospecting for lunar resources. This has been accompanied with renewed public and critical reflection on humanity's cultural and legal relation to the celestial body, especially regarding colonialism, as in the 1970 poem "Whitey on the Moon". In this light the Moon's nature has been invoked, particularly for lunar conservation and as a common.

### Lunar effect

Main article: Lunar effect

The lunar effect is a purported unproven correlation between specific stages of the roughly 29.5-day lunar cycle and behavior and physiological changes in living beings on Earth, including humans. The Moon has long been associated with insanity and irrationality; the words *lunacy* and *lunatic* are derived from the Latin name for the Moon, *Luna*. Philosophers Aristotle and Pliny the Elder argued that the full moon induced insanity in susceptible individuals, believing that the brain, which is mostly water, must be affected by the Moon and its power over the tides, but the Moon's gravity is too slight to affect any single person. Even today, people who believe in a lunar effect claim that admissions to psychiatric hospitals, traffic accidents, homicides or suicides increase during a full moon, but dozens of studies invalidate these claims.