The harvest supermoon and the rituals that repeat.

The harvest supermoon was on September 28th — the biggest and brightest full moon of 2023. We saw it from the garden at half past nine. My daughter had reminded me it was happening. She had looked it up.

This is the second year in a row she has looked up the date of the harvest supermoon. This is now a ritual. We did not decide to make it a ritual. It became one because we did it once, and then again, and the second time was different because of the first time.

The first time we watched the harvest supermoon was last year — 2022 — and it happened by accident. We were sitting in the garden after dinner and the moon was enormous on the horizon and my daughter said: 'Is that normal?' I said: no, that's the harvest moon. It only looks like that a few times a year.

She wanted to know why. We talked about perigee and the atmosphere bending light near the horizon and why it appears orange. She was nine then. She asked about twelve questions. I answered maybe six of them correctly.

This year, at ten, she remembered. She looked up the date. She told me a week in advance. She reminded me on the night.

This is how rituals form in families: not from planning but from repetition. The first time is accidental or circumstantial. The second time is something beginning. The third time is already a tradition.

This is how rituals form in families: not by planning but by repetition. The first time is accidental. The second time is something beginning. The third time is already a tradition.