A Strawberry Solstice Moon

Full Moon on a Summer Solstice

Occasionally celestial events co-occur.  It seems that such an overlap is happening today.  The Summer Solstice and the June Full Moon both happen today.  That much is true.  Everything else you might read about it could be bunk.  Misinformation is everywhere.  A cautionary tale to include your source when telling a tale.

Nick Drake

For me the phrase, “Pink Moon,” usually conjures Nick Drake’s melancholy voice and lyrics of the album of the same name.

Today I’m wishing the Beatles would have written about a Strawberry Solstice Moon in 1967.  It sounds like something they might have done.  Sort of a cross between Strawberry Fields and Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds… a sweet ripe sky song.

Tommy Dorsey

The Summer of Love was one of the last times a full moon in June occurred on the longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice.  One of the times?  Yep “Until” by Tommy Dorsey was at the top of the charts in 1948, the other year, widely reported to have them the last Strawberry Solstice Moon. In our information age, people continue to reference events without verifying the reference to the event. Sad but true.

The color of the June moon is no different than others, summer berries of the same name simply tend have  ripened by the June full moon. The June full moon is also known as a rose moon or a mead moon.

Scientific Details

I quickly found that Atlas Obscura’s Jessie Guy-Ryan had written a piece on the massive misunderstanding of the Strawberry Moon Solstice with details and references.
This is how folktales start.  It serves as a wonderful reminder to include your source, even when telling a tale.  “Aunt Balderdash once told me of a Midsummer day and night when a Full Moon shown all night after the sun had shown all day.  We danced amid the moon shadows, sipping Mead and eating strawberries amid the heady scent of roses.”