Waxing and waning moon: the calendar of the fields in tradition
From Hesiod to Cato, from Pliny to popular almanacs such as the Barbanera: the history of the lunar rules of farming and how to read them today.
For centuries the farmers of Europe looked at the Moon before sowing, pruning or cutting timber. The lunar phases, visible to all and perfectly regular, offered a natural calendar to those who owned neither clocks nor almanacs. From this custom arose a vast body of traditional rules, which is best examined as a historical and cultural document rather than as a prescription.
Hesiod and the days of the month
One of the oldest texts on this subject is Hesiod's Works and Days, a Greek poem dating from the late eighth or the seventh century BC. In its final part the poet lists the days of the month suitable or unsuitable for various activities, such as shearing sheep, reaping grain or celebrating a birth. The month is divided into parts linked to the waxing and waning of the Moon, and each day has, according to the poet, a character of its own.
Cato, Columella and Pliny
The Roman agronomists collected and handed down many lunar rules. Cato, in De agri cultura, recommends cutting timber when the moon is waning, and Columella and Pliny the Elder report precepts on sowing, pruning and harvesting in relation to the phases. Pliny, in his Natural History, devotes several passages to the influence of the Moon on plants and bodily fluids, reflecting beliefs widespread in his time.
The underlying idea, already present in the ancient texts, is an analogy: the waxing Moon would accompany the growth of plants and sap, the waning Moon their decrease. From this analogy derive many rules preserved in European peasant tradition up to the twentieth century, often handed down orally and enriched by local proverbs that varied from one valley to the next.
Almanacs and the Italian tradition
In Italy lunar rules spread through popular almanacs, called lunari, sold at fairs and markets, such as the famous Barbanera, published in Foligno from the second half of the eighteenth century. They indicated the phases of the Moon and the work of the fields, together with proverbs, household advice and weather forecasts. The belief that timber should be cut at waning moon, or that wine should be racked in certain phases, was part of the common knowledge of the countryside.
Alongside farming, popular tradition attributed to the Moon an influence over many aspects of daily life, from cutting hair to the birth of animals. These beliefs are documented by folklorists throughout the peninsula and show the Moon as a true social clock, around which work, deadlines and moments of celebration were organised.
Tradition and testing
Modern experimental tests of lunar rules in agriculture have produced conflicting results and, in most cases, have not confirmed the effects attributed to the phases. This does not detract from the historical value of these practices: they document a way of organising agricultural time in which the Moon, visible and regular, served as a shared calendar in an age without clocks and without widespread printing.
Reading Hesiod, Cato or an old almanac today means entering a world in which sky and earth were parts of a single order. The lunar rules of the fields tell us less about the biology of plants and much more about the mentality of those who, for millennia, sought in the night sky a guide for their work.