in 2024 there will be supermoons on the following dates:
A supermoon occurs when the full moon occurs at perigee: the point where the Moon is closest to the Earth.
When the full moon is close to that point, it is seen from Earth looking larger and brighter because of its closer proximity, thus producing a supermoon.
The full Moon for December is 100% illuminated on December 26, 7:33 P.M. (EST). This is the first full Moon after the winter solstice, and it falls right during Christmastime this year!
To our eyes, the Moon’s disk will appear fully illuminated a couple of days before a full Moon, so start looking on December 24 and 25 towards the east after sunset as it peaks over the horizon.
If you look up during the December full Moon, notice how it’s nearly at the top of the sky, tracing a long path through the night, akin to Santa’s sleigh! The winter solstice Moon takes the highest path along the sky and is above the horizon longer than any Moon—hence, it’s the longest night!
Conversely, near the summer solstice in June, the Sun is highest in the sky while the Moon has the lowest arc—hence, it’s the longest day!
This full Moon has also been called the Long Night Moon (Mohican), as it rises during the “longest” nights of the year
This name is doubly fitting because December’s full Moon shines above the horizon for a more extended period than most full Moons.
Other names that allude to the cold and snow include
Drift Clearing Moon (Cree),
Frost Exploding Trees Moon (Cree),
Moon of the Popping Trees (Oglala),
Hoar Frost Moon (Cree),
Snow Moon (Haida, Cherokee),
Winter Maker Moon (Western Abenaki)
Moon When the Deer Shed Their Antlers (Dakota)
Little Spirit Moon (Anishinaabe)
In Europe, ancient pagans called the December full Moon the “Moon Before Yule” in honor of the Yuletide festival celebrating the return of the sun heralded by the winter solstice
I Wish It Could Be Christmas Everyday
by Wizzard
Fairytale of New York
by The Pogues and Kirsty MacColl
Merry Christmas Everybody
by Slade
Wonderful Christmastime
by Paul McCartney
Last Christmas
by Wham
Driving Home for Christmas
by Chris Rea
Merry Christmas Everyone
by Shakin Stevens
Another Rock n Roll Christmas
by Gary Glitter
I Believe In Father Christmas
by Greg Lake
A Spaceman Came Travelling
by Chris De Burgh
Stop The Cavalry
by Jona Lewie
Christmas Wrapping
by Waitresses
2000 Miles
by The Pretenders
The Power Of Love
by Frankie Goes To Hollywood
Two Become One
by Spice Girls
Winters Tale
David Essex
When You Come Back To Me
Jason Donovan
Do They Know It's Christmas
by Band Aid
Step Into Christmas
by Elton John
Happy Christmas
War Is Over
by John Lennon
One More Sleep
Leona Lewis
All I Want For Christmas Is You
by Mariah Carey
Mistletoe and Wine
Cliff Richard
What Christmas Means To Me
by Stevie Wonder
Rocking Around The Christmas Tree
by Brenda Lee
by Mel and Kim
Mary's Boy Child
by Boney M
Little Drummer Boy
Peace On Earth
by Bing Crosby and David Bowie
White Christmas
by Bing Crosby
It's The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
by Andy Williams
It's Beginning To Look a Lot Like Christmas
Straight Outa The North Pole
Sleigh Ride In My 64
Santa Claus Is Coming On Moms
A Child Is Born But It Aint Mine
Frosty The Dope Man
All I Want For Christmas Is The Charges Dropped
I'm Dreaming Of A White Woman
Deez Nuts Roasting On An Open Fire
Ante Up Bitch It's Christmas
Jingle Balls
Deck The Hoes
Violent Night
Oh, oh, yeah
The poem begins with an old grey-bearded sailor, the Mariner, stopping a guest at a wedding ceremony to tell him a story of a sailing voyage he took long ago. The Wedding-Guest is at first reluctant to listen, as the ceremony is about to begin, but the mariner's glittering eye captivates him.
The mariner's tale begins with his ship departing on its journey. Despite initial good fortune, the ship is driven south by a storm and eventually reaches the icy waters of the Antarctic. An albatross appears and leads the ship out of the ice jam where it is stuck, but even as the albatross is fed and praised by the ship's crew, the mariner shoots the bird:
The crew is angry with the mariner, believing the albatross brought the south wind that led them out of the Antarctic. However, the sailors change their minds when the weather becomes warmer and the mist disappears:
They soon find that they made a grave mistake in supporting this crime, as it arouses the wrath of spirits who then pursue the ship "from the land of mist and snow"; the south wind that had initially blown them north now sends the ship into uncharted waters near the equator, where it is becalmed:
The sailors change their minds again and blame the mariner for the torment of their thirst. In anger, the crew forces the mariner to wear the dead albatross about his neck, perhaps to illustrate the burden he must suffer from killing it, or perhaps as a sign of regret:
After a "weary time", the ship encounters a ghostly hulk. On board are Death (a skeleton) and the "Night-mare Life-in-Death", a deathly pale woman, who are playing dice for the souls of the crew. With a roll of the dice, Death wins the lives of the crew members and Life-in-Death the life of the mariner, a prize she considers more valuable. Her name is a clue to the mariner's fate: he will endure a fate worse than death as punishment for his killing of the albatross. One by one, all of the crew members die, but the mariner lives on, seeing for seven days and nights the curse in the eyes of the crew's corpses, whose last expressions remain upon their faces:
Eventually, this stage of the mariner's curse is lifted after he begins to appreciate the many sea creatures swimming in the water. Despite his cursing them as "slimy things" earlier in the poem, he suddenly sees their true beauty and blesses them ("A spring of love gush'd from my heart, And I bless'd them unaware"). As he manages to pray, the albatross falls from his neck and his guilt is partially expiated. It then starts to rain, and the bodies of the crew, possessed by good spirits, rise again and help steer the ship. In a trance, the mariner hears two spirits discussing his voyage and penance, and learns that the ship is being powered supernaturally:
Finally the mariner wakes from his trance and comes in sight of his homeland, but is initially uncertain as to whether or not he is hallucinating:
The rotten remains of the ship sink in a whirlpool, leaving only the mariner behind. A hermit on the mainland who has spotted the approaching ship comes to meet it in a boat, rowed by a pilot and his boy. When they pull the mariner from the water, they think he is dead, but when he opens his mouth, the pilot shrieks with fright. The hermit prays, and the mariner picks up the oars to row. The pilot's boy laughs, thinking the mariner is the devil, and cries, "The Devil knows how to row". Back on land, the mariner is compelled by "a woful agony" to tell the hermit his story.
As penance for shooting the albatross, the mariner, driven by the agony of his guilt, is now forced to wander the earth, telling his story over and over, and teaching a lesson to those he meets:
After finishing his story, the mariner leaves, and the wedding-guest returns home, waking the next morning "a sadder and a wiser man".
