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''.]] The "Man in the Moon" is a mythical figure resembling a human face, perceived in the full Moon in some cultures. The figure is composed of large dark areas (the Lunar Maria, Or Seas ) on the Moon's surface. The figure's eyes are the Mare Imbrium and Mare Serenitatis , its nose is the Sinus Aestuum , and its open mouth is the Mare Nubium and Mare Cognitum . The conventionalized image of the Man in the Moon, unlike the vague natural appearance, bears just a very simple, wide-grinning face. ORIGIN STORIES There are various explanations as to how there came to be a man in the Moon. One tradition, both Christian and Jewish, claims him as Cain , the Wanderer, forever doomed to circle the Earth. Dante 's '' Inferno '' Dante , The Divine Comedy , Inferno , canto 20, line 126 and 127 . The Dante Dartmouth Project contains the original text and centuries of commentary. alludes to this: :"For now doth Cain with fork of thorns confine :On either hemisphere, touching the wave :Beneath the towers of Seville . Yesternight :The moon was round." This is mentioned again in his '' Paradise ''Dante, The Divine Comedy, Paradiso, canto 2, line 51 .: :But tell, I pray thee, whence the gloomy spots :Upon this body, which below on earth :Give rise to talk of Cain in fabling quaint?” There is also a Talmud ic tradition that Jacob is on the moon, although no such mention appears in the Bible . John Lyly says in the prologue to his '' Endymion '' ( 1591 ), ''"There liveth none under the sunne, that knows what to make of the man in the moone."'' TRADITIONS There is a tradition that the Man in the Moon enjoyed to drink, especially claret. An old Ballad runs (original spelling): :"Our man in the moon drinks Clarret , :With powder- Beef , Turnep , and Carret . :If he doth so, why should not you :Drink until the Sky looks blew?" Plutarch , in his treatise, ''Of the Face appearing in the roundle of the Moone'', cites the poet Agesinax as saying of that orb, :"All roundabout environed :With fire she is illumined: :And in the middes there doth appeere, :Like to some boy, a visage cleere; :Whose eies to us doe seem in view, :Of colour grayish more than blew: :The browes and forehead tender seeme, :The cheeks all reddish one would deeme." There is a traditional Mother Goose Nursery Rhyme featuring the Man in the Moon: :"The man in the moon came down too soon, :and asked his way to Norwich , :He went by the south and burnt his mouth :By supping on cold plum porridge." The Chinese Man in the Moon is called "Yue-lao". PAREIDOLIA, AND OTHER THINGS ON THE MOON The Man in the Moon is an example of Pareidolia . Other cultures perceive the silhouette of a Woman , a Hare , a Frog , Moose , or a Buffalo in the full moon. The Nepal ese have a tradition that the dead go to the Moon. In Japan , popular culture sees a rabbit making Mochi in the moon. bowl]] REFERENCES
EXTERNAL LINKS Mythology
Chinese Moon festival legends
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