Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[gloria_taipei]

Hello,
In the song "Colors of the Wind", there's a sentence that goes, "Have you ever heard the wolf cry to the blue corn moon." What's the blue corn moon?

And these two questions sound more philosophical. I have tried to figure but still haven't got any good ideas. Why "Earth is just a dead thing you can claim"? How do you "paint with all the colors of the wind"?

Thank you!

[CP]

First thing to remember is that "Pocahontas" is a Disney animated feature meant to entertain children and adults, romanticizing a time, a place, and people who really existed, including Pocahontas and James Smith.

Pocahontas's song tells Smith that not everyone views the world the way the white settlers in the New World do. Remember in the beginning, she asks, "How can there be so much that you don't know?" She's going to teach him things. For instance: The native Americans didn't think of the Earth as something dead that can be bought and sold, but rather a live, nurturing mother that everyone shares. A tree should be allowed to live, not just cut down to make things. And so on.

She asks him if he's ever heard the wolf cry to the Blue Corn Moon, probably meant to be the name of one of the 12 or 13 moons of the year, when the blue corn is harvested. It's made up by the song writer, but based on something real. We call the moon in December the Cold Moon, and the moon in January the Wolf Moon. April is the Strawberry Moon, and everybody knows that the September moon is the Harvest Moon. Maybe that's the moon that Pocahontas's people call the Blue Corn Moon.

Who knows what "the colors of the wind" are supposed to be? Pocahontas has deep knowledge of things that we cannot fully understand, the song tells us, and she can do things we never thought of. Like paint with the colors of the wind. It's mystical, magical, poetic.

But a pretty song, isn't it? I love the voice of the girl who sang it.
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You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb

[gloria_taipei]

I'd never heard of the Wolf Moon and the Strawberry Moon, and didn't know the months for Harvest Moon and Cold Moon. That's very interesting. Thank you.

It IS a pretty song and I also love the singer's voice.

[CP]

Here is the full list:

January: Wolf Moon
February: Snow Moon
March: Worm Moon
April: Pink Moon
May: Flower Moon
June: Strawberry Moon
July: Buck Moon
August: Sturgeon Moon
September: Harvest Moon
October: Hunter's Moon
November: Beaver Moon
December: Cold Moon
_________________
You live a new life for every new language you speak. -Czech proverb