tldr; Please share, to inspire someone to great heights
The sky map is for North America, around 50 degrees N latitude. Viewing is best anywhere between 30 and 60 degrees N latitude, depending on your view of the sky, local lighting conditions, and the weather, of course.
The timezone you are in, and where you are within your timezone, affect the standard time of local midnight, which change the map slightly. For Europe and time-zones East of Greenwich, the rhyme may fit better 24 hours later, i.e., 2023-12-25 23:59, and 2023-12-26 23:59. This is not too late for North America either.
It appears that the critical alignment is the (nearly) full moon at its highest point, and the 2 brightest stars of Canis Minor. This happens close to the “cold moon”, the last full moon every year. The date of the cold moon is different each year, and it seems the closer it is to the winter solstice and/or Christmas, the better the alignment with North/South at midnight, and the rhyme. The spoon (the Little Dipper) is a reference to North, if not the North Star and true North. Finding true North allows us to find true South, and verify the near perfect alignment of the moon as it becomes full. While modern instruments can find the exact instant of the full moon, to the untrained observer, the moon appears full for a few days.
As the rhyme is several centuries old, meanings of words have changed, and the rhyme has several variations. The most common variation is the last word in “to see such …”. “Fun”, “sport”, “sight” or “craft” seem to be most common. “Craft” rhymes with “laugh’d”, which makes it likely while improving the rhyme scheme. Its usual meaning is not a great fit, though, so perhaps this is why many variations came to be.
Regarding “Taurus the cow“: Brittanica defines: Cow, in common parlance, a domestic bovine, regardless of sex and age, usually of the species Bos taurus. So, “cow” can include a bull. Also, the Latin taurus refers to the entire species, so it’s a fine name for any individual, male or female (and, BTW, so is “Bos”, “Boss” or “Bossie”). The original rhyme is old, but also whimsical, so it might have been said with a wink and a smile. If still a problem, feel free to heckle a rodeo cowboy, or, please contact original author at Mother Goose Inc.
Regarding “Lyra the fiddle“: Lyra is often illustrated as a harp, but, as its name makes clear, it is a “lyre”. Lyres are ancient instruments with designs that have changed over the centuries, resulting in later related instruments such as lutes, viols, and guitars, but they are not harps. Lyres are bowed in many traditions. The word “fiddle” may share a root with “diddle”, as a bow’s motion while playing may resemble a teeter-totter.
The meaning of “the dish” still has some puzzle left. If the spoon is the Little Dipper, then the dish could be:
- the Big Dipper
- the stars surrounding the Big Dipper, or circling the North Star, as our version suggests
- the entire dish of the sky
- if goat or goat-head is considered a delicious dish, then Capella the “goat star” – bright and directly overhead, aligned with the moon and the North Star
- the Milky Way galaxy, which may look like a dish from intergalactic space, but mostly looks like spilled milk from Earth
- a flying saucer
- something else
What do you think? Of course, with any work of art, there can be more than one meaning to the rhyme.
Future Dates
| 2023-12-24/25 Excellent | 2035-12-14/15 | 2047-12-30/31 | 2059-12-18/19 |
| 2024-12-14/15 | 2036-12-04/05 | 2048-12-19/20 | 2060-12-07/08 |
| 2025-12-04/05 | 2037-12-21/22 Good | 2049-12-09/10 | 2061-12-24/25 Excellent |
| 2026-12-22/23 Good | 2038-12-11/12 | 2050-12-26/27 Good | 2062-12-15/16 |
| 2027-12-13/14 | 2039-12-28/29 Good | 2051-12-16/17 | 2063-12-05/06 |
| 2028-12-29/30 | 2040-12-17/18 | 2052-12-06/07 | 2064-12-22/23 Good |
| 2029-12-19/20 | 2041-12-07/08 | 2053-12-24/25 Excellent | 2065-12-12/13 |
| 2030-12-09/10 | 2042-12-25/26 Very Good | 2054-12-14/15 | 2066-12-30/31 |
| 2031-12-27/28 Good | 2043-12-15/16 | 2055-12-04/05 | 2067-12-20/21 |
| 2032-12-16/17 | 2044-12-04/05 | 2056-12-21/22 Good | 2068-12-09/10 |
| 2033-12-06/07 | 2045-12-22/23 Good | 2057-12-10/11 | 2069-12-26/27 Very Good |
| 2034-12-24/25 Excellent | 2046-12-12/13 | 2058-12-28/29 Good | 2070-12-17/18 |
Peace & Love