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The Anglo-Saxon Lunar CalendarThe current date in the Anglo-Saxon lunar calendar is: The Anglo-saxon lunar calendar gave names to the full moons of the year based upon the season in which they fell, e.g. the first full moon after the winter solstice is the After Yule Moon, and the first one following the spring equinox is the Egg Moon. The full list of full moon names is shown in the table below. These, with the exception of the Before Yule and After Yule Moons follow those generally accepted as being the Old English names, and as named in this Wikipedia article.
To keep the moons in line with the seasons, however, an "extra" moon has to be inserted every now and then. Each season normally has three full moons, but when a season has four full moons, the third one is designated as the "extra" moon. This ensures that certain full moons, such as the Before Yule Moon and the Egg Moon, which must occur at certain times, are not displaced. This extra moon is called the Blue Moon. This article in Sky & Telescope claims that this rule is the correct and traditional method of defining a blue moon, and it is the method adopted here. The full moons for the years 2008-11 are shown in the table below.
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