The point halfway through each season is known as "cross quarter day", and it marks the point of turning away from the beginning of a season toward its end. Think Ground Hog's Day, May Day, All Saints Day. These are all cross quarter days, the time that was connected to sacred mystery held in each season. But it's not just the cross quarter day itself that is so revealing; sometimes, it's the night before, known as the 'eve'!
The most popular 'eve' of cross quarter in North American culture is Halloween, which literally means "all hallow'd eve", and it is notorious for mischief-making ~ for tricking or treating.
The eve of May Day is known in Germany as "Walpurgis Night", and it was celebrated or even feared as a time when witches were freed to roam the highest peak in the Harz Mountains.
This week on Saturday, we will be halfway through the summer season. Saturday, August 1st is the cross quarter day known as 'Lammas', from loaf mass in Britain. The first wheat harvest comes in at this time, and bread baked from this first harvest was traditionally blessed, to ensure a bountiful harvest.
The night before summer's cross quarter? That's July 31st, and this year it marks the date of the Full Moon, but not just any Full Moon. This year the Full Moon on the eve of summer's cross quarter is a Blue Moon!
A Blue Moon doesn't appear blue in color, and in contemporary understanding it's simply the second Full Moon in one calendar month, which doesn't really make it anything spectacular. but the second Full Moon in one month occurring on the eve of the summer's cross quarter day? Surely we can all find something rare and wonderful in that!
Friday, July 31st the Blue Moon will peek up over the horizon in the east a few moments before the sun sets in the west, just after 9 pm.
Friday night will be a great time to 'break bread' together, so that good things may come to pass for the remainder of the summer season, with the Blue Moon as your celestial witness!