By Carol Blair Vaughn

Santa’s going to have more help delivering packages this year than just Rudolph’s very shiny nose. The universe is giving us all a gift that we don’t even need to unwrap: a full moon on Christmas Eve.

This phenomena is called the Yule Moon, or the Full Cold Moon, and it’s the first time since 1977 that this has happened, 38 years ago. NASA predicts that it won’t happen again until 2034, some 19 years from now.

Since 1900, this is only the fourth time there has been a full moon on Christmas. What an amazing time to be alive – and to gaze up at the moon.

Fred Espenak of NASA predicts that the moon will appear its fullest at 6:11AM, EST, on December 25^th, 5:11AM Costa Rica time. Espenak is an eclipse and moon expert with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, so he would know. It will also be the longest night of the year, according to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, and caps off a year of unique lunar phenomena, including a total eclipse of the moon in Britain, and the sensational Blue Moon in September of this year.

1977 was the year former U.S. President Jimmy Carter granted pardons to Vietnam draft dodgers, Martin Luther King received (posthumously) the Medal of Freedom, the World Trade Center was completed, Star Wars opened in cinemas, and Elvis Presley died of a heart attack. Many of our readers were not even born in 1977, so for those folks, this moon’s for you.

If you miss it, you will have to wait for nearly two more decades. So before you tuck into bed after eating all those luscious tamales with family and friends, step outside to appreciate this celestial Christmas gift, and give thanks that you are alive to witness this amazing event – in Costa Rica or anywhere.

About the Author

Carol Blair Vaughn holds a Master’s Degree in Performing Arts and is a retired college professor from Washington, D.C. She inherited her love for Latin America from her father, the former U.S. Ambassador
to Colombia, Panama, and Director of the Peace Corps, Jack Vaughn. Carol writes for the Association of Residents of Costa Rica (ARCR) and for an English language club in the southern region of Costa Rica. In the past, Carol served as Editor in Chief of What’s on Tap magazine