Moon festivals and lunar planting

HAPPY WEEKEND
Gina Dizon

CHITTAGONG HILL TRACTS, Bangladesh -- Indigenous people have one thing in common: agricultural festivals which happen before the full moon. Here among the Adivasis of the Chitaggong Hill Tracts of Bangladesh, the new year is celebrated on the second week of April when the moon goes to a waxing state fit for planting crops.

The celebration of the ending of the current year and the beginning of the new year happens on April 14, known as Boyshaki (Baisabi) or Bizu among the Chakma tribe. Chakma and Tanchangya refer it as Biju. Marmas refer it as Shangrai and among Tripuras as Baisuk or Baisu.

A vegetable curry called payson or paychan is served. Resident-IPs and visitors visit homes to partake in eating this tasty and spicy curry of a mix of vegetables including eggplant, yam, fish, and pepper.

These vegetables are grown on the jum, found on the hilly areas. April begins the burning of weeds and grasses in the hilly areas to start new grasses to grow upon the ushering of the April rains.

Associating the moon, festivals and planting maybe superstitious yet, science has its explanation. The Earth in its gravitational field is influenced by both the sun and moon. As Isaac Newton has established, the tides are affected by the gravitational pull of the moon.

Being closer to the earth, the moon influences the tides at its highest at the time of the new and the full moon, when sun and moon are lined up with earth. The pulling of tides from the ocean causes moisture to rise in the earth, which encourages growth. The highest amount of moisture is in the soil at this time, and tests have proven that seeds will absorb the most water at the time of the full moon.

“Gardening by the Moon” by Caren Catterall shares the following: At the new moon, the lunar gravity pulls water up, and causes the seeds to swell and burst and creates balanced root and leaf growth. This is the best time for planting above ground annual crops that produce their seeds outside the fruit. Examples are green vegetables and grain crops.

In the second quarter the gravitational pull is less yet moonlight is strong. Strong leaf growth is manifested here. It is generally a good time for planting, especially two days before the full moon. The types of crops that prefer the second quarter are crops produced ground, but their seeds form inside the fruit, such as beans, melons, peas, peppers, squash, and tomatoes. More moisture is created and encourages seeds to sprout and grow as experiments and practice among indigenous peoples have shown.

John Jeavons, author of "How to grow more vegetables…" adds the influence of the increasing or decreasing moonlight on the growth of plants. When the moon is in it's waxing phases "increasing amount of moonlight stimulates leaf growth" and "as the moonlight decreases the above ground leaf growth slows down. The root is stimulated again."

After the full moon, as the moon wanes, the energy is drawing down. The gravitation pull is high, creating more moisture in the soil. This is a favorable time for planting root crops, including beets, carrots, onions, potatoes, and peanuts. It is also good for perennials, biennials, bulbs and transplanting because of the active root growth. Pruning is best done in the third quarter.

In the fourth quarter there is decreased gravitational pull and moonlight, and it is considered a resting period. This is also the best time to cultivate, harvest, transplant and prune.

The mainstream Bengalis also celebrate the new year in the same date where the moon also plays a significant factor in holding the date for the celebration.

Similarly among the Igorots of Mountain Province, a festival called begnas happens towards the waxing of the moon, when the indigenous people start planting beans and corn.