We’re all familiar with the concept of the man in the moon but I think last night was the first time I really got what I was supposed to be looking at all these years. I don’t know if it’s because the atmospheric conditions were just right or my aging eyes see everything in imperceptible blurs (just kidding, mostly) but for some reason I really could make out his face. It got me to wondering if everyone is referring to the same “face”. Basically, I recognized this, which I don’t recall ever having seen it so clearly. Some months back I was speaking to a teenager who also had never recognized the man’s face but could clearly see a shrimp!
So, share your knowledge and lunar thoughts with me. Hopefully you don’t see this.
Little known fact, there is also a man in the sun. If you look really closely, you will see him. It helps to hold your eyelids open to make sure the entire eyeball can see it.
No because the concept is literally foreign to me; I’ve never been in a situation to ask which bits are supposed to be what. I wouldn’t be able to recognize The Big Cart (the Big Dipper or Ursa Major) and its sibling The Little Cart (the Little Dipper, Ursa Minor) if nobody had explained them to me either.
Do you mean there is no expression / lore about the “the man in the moon” where you’re from, or that it’s just an abstract idea that doesn’t have anything to do with how the moon looks? Sorry to be ignorant.
Back to the OP: I also thought that the man in the moon was more pronounced than usual, especially at moonrise. Atmospheric conditions? Closeness to the earth (was it nearer than normal)?
I’ve never been able to make out the rabbit though.
The upper right diagram in the combo pic shows a man with a bundle of sticks on his back, but it’s in the “wrong” place and direction to me. It should be facing right and taking up most of the Moon.
In addition, the crescent moon is often represented as a weird profile pic of a face by many. That I just don’t see.
There is no expression or lore about the man in the moon in Spain; if we had lore about a person’s image showing on the moon it would likely be female, since la luna is a (f) word. I first encountered the expression in my late 20s while living in the US. We also don’t have the concept of the moon being made of cheese, except in children’s books translated from English.
I can certainly see surface detail on the Moon, but it doesn’t look at all like a person to me (face nor body). I usually describe it as a rabbit, though I could see how it could be a shrimp, too.
