Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Monday night lights

Saw the following phenomenon while on my nocturnal walk Monday night:


Confirmed with Google's Sky Map app on my phone:


So yes, that's the moon, very out of focus, and Jupiter beneath it, shining brightly. Jupiter is called Mok-seong in Korean, the Tree Star or the Wood Star. I haven't checked an etymological dictionary to find out why. It probably has to do with the five elements found in pre-Taoist Chinese cosmology, which also mark the days of the week in Korea and Japan (but, strangely, not in China, where the terms and concepts come from): fire (hwa/火/화, Tuesday), water (su/水/수, Wednesday), wood (mok/木/목, Thursday), metal (geum/金/금, Friday), and earth (to/土/토, Saturday). Rounding out the week: Sunday is il/日/일, i.e., the sun (or "day"); Monday is weol/月/월, i.e., the moon. The Korean calendar week begins on Monday, as in most Western European countries.

So what does it mean when Monday sits above Thursday? Is Luna straddling Thor? Am I mixing my mythologies too much? I should lay off the shrooms.


2 comments:

John Mac said...

Yes, you must lay off the shrooms. Very illegal in Korea. I'm glad you didn't photograph Uranus...

Kevin Kim said...

I trust you'll lead me on the path to True Detox.