This information was taken from here. Have you seen the moon tonight? It’s extraordinary.
April 2, 2007 will be the full moon known as the “Planter’s Moon” by
the American Colonists. With the snow melted and the warmer days,
farmers could begin to prepare their fields for planting. The farmer
had waited so long for the warm weather, that he would be found in his
fields, late into the night, lit by the “Planter’s Moon”.
Farmer folklore has advocated planting root crops during the waning
moon (after the full moon until the new moon) and planting above
ground crops during the waxing moon (like the dipping of a candle in
wax, the moon thickens), from the new moon until the full moon. This
practice stemmed from the belief that the moon’s magnetic force pulls
all that contains water: the sea, the blood in our bodies, and the
water in plants, thus expanding or contracting the life force within
each living thing. The green, leafy plants patterning from the
beginning of life by striving upward toward the moon during its waxing
phase and the root crops growing below the ground, needing to push its
energy down, away from the moon, during its waning phase.
The full moon on April 2nd is also called the Paschal moon – the
first full moon after the vernal equinox. The term “Paschal” also
refers to the Jewish holiday of Passover, which also begins on the
evening of the full moon, April 2nd, just after sundown. You may have
heard of the “Paschal Lamb”, referring to the lamb traditionally
slaughtered for the first night of Passover.
The date of Passover is determined by the hebrew calendar, which is a
lunar calendar of twelve lunar months with a thirteenth month seven
times in the cycle of the calendar, which repeats itself every 19
years. The sacred year begins in Nisan, or Abib, or about March and
ends with the month of Adar as the twelfth month, or Adar II as the
Easter is always celebrated on the first Sunday after the Paschal
moon. In 2007, Easter occurs only six days after the Paschal moon,
April 8th. Passover will commence during the full moon at sundown on
Monday evening on April 2nd. Thus, the moon determines both holidays.
Till next time ~ Keep Eating.
(And get that garden started!)