In Finland All Saints’ Day was celebrated on Nov. 4 this year. I made the traditional visit to the local cemetery with my sister and my brother-in-law, where we lit candles at the graves of our loved ones.

The Moon was full on Nov. 4, 2017, in Taurus, in conjunction with 341520 Mors-Somnus, named from Roman mythology after twin gods of the underworld.

341520 Mors–Somnus is a small double plutino discovered in 2007 and named in 2015. The two components have almost equal size. The orbital period is approximately 244 years.

All plutinos are given mythological names associated with the underworld. Mors was the Roman personification of death, and Somnus was the personification of sleep. The Greek equivalents are Thanatos and Hypnos. According to the Theoi Project, a site exploring Greek mythology and gods, Thanatos was the god of non-violent death, and his touch was gentle, likened to that of his twin brother Hypnos. Hypnos was said to be a calm and gentle god, who helped humans in need. A poppy was his symbol.

47171 Lempo, a triple plutino which was named a month ago from Finnish mythology, was also in conjunction with the Full Moon. The timing of the naming of this celestial body was excellent, because Finland is celebrating its hundred years of independence this year. In mythology Lempo was a sacred Fire Woman, who gave bread, iron and love to humankind, and also escorted the deceased to the Otherworld.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 5th, 2017 at 5:57 pm and is filed under Full Moon. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.