The new year includes two Supermoons, when the celestial body’s orbit brings it closest to the Earth, one in March and another in April.
There will be the usual full moon each month, with a bonus full moon in October. Those are known as Blue Moons, which has nothing to do the color. October will start with a full moon and end with one, meaning it will fall on Halloween. That only happens two or three times per century.
If you see kids in costume trick or treating carrying a blue pumpkin bucket this year, it’s not a reference to the moon. Last year mothers started a movement for kids with autism, providing them with plastic blue pumpkins on their candy hunts to notify adults behind the door that the child ringing the doorbell might not communicate as other children do. The National Autism Association has cards on their website that can be downloaded that read: “Having autism can sometimes make it difficult to speak. Please accept this as a thank you for the yummy treat.” Not all parents are on-board with the concept, some suggesting it singles out their kids from the others.