Strawberry moon...bite it to the pips!

The moon in June is known as the strawberry moon, most obviously because it is the time of year those delicious, nutritious scarlet berries come tumbling onto market stalls and into stores. The moon doesn’t actually turn into a giant strawberry though – rather a pity, in my book. However, it may take on a reddish tint as it ascends the horizon around the summer solstice – 20, 21, 22 – June. Actual strawberries attract all kinds of romantic associations, the only dark narrative being their part in Shakespeare’s Othello, when the titular character gives the ill-fated Desdemona a handkerchief embroidered with the berries, which leads her to incrimination and death. A bad moon rising, indeed. But I suspect the true emotion behind all of those luscious, lunar song lyrics (Blue Moon, Light of the Silvery Moon, Moonlight and Roses, et al) is the anticipation of the summer to come. You know, the longer, warmer days, the scent of flowers and cut grass, the taste of ripe summer berries, the days free of school, vacations at home and abroad, the long, lazy afternoons and star-studded nights...ah! Whatever ever the berry, I’ll bite the June moon to the pips.