Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus

My private teacher (I need all the help I can get) gave me the scoop on the Harvest Moon festival that happened here over the weekend. It’s a very ancient festival with two aspects to it, BBQing and burning paper money (not the real stuff in use day to day). The BBQing is kind of like our fourth of July – just without the pyrotechnics. Family and friends get together, break out the ol’ barbie, and sit around grilling food and looking at the moon. Burning the paper money is about worshiping the moon – or more specifically the fairies that live on the moon. Once burned, the essence of the money finds its way to the fairies. My teacher said that just about everyone does the BBQing, but very few people burn the money anymore. When I asked her why, she said “When Armstrong landed on the moon, everybody realized that there aren’t fairies on the moon – so now most people just BBQ”.

I was stunned and a little bit saddened. I watched that landing in my family’s living room on a black and white, very grainy TV console. There was something awe inspiring about that moment even to a pre-teenage boy. It was the culmination of a time of hope and focus for our country. And on the other side of the world from me, that same moment shattered an ancient belief, firmly held by zillions of people. I had to stop for a moment and take that all in. What must it have been like from their perspective?

You know what, there still are fairies on the moon. All that commotion of afterburners and lunar excursion modules frightened them, so they hid. (Someone comes into your town, guns a blazing, what are you going to do?). Neil Armstrong never lit up a BBQ (the oxygen situation made that problematic) or even put out a nice spread. Nope – he just took a giant step for mankind and split. By the time the fairies worked up the nerve to come out, he and all the cameras had already gone.

There is still magic in this world and on the moon – science may obfuscate it but not dispel it. I hope the people here keep burning that money – those fairies need it!