Peculiarities Concerning Lunar Beliefs Among the Alemannic
and Non-Alemannic German-Speaking Peoples:

Positions of the Moon and Signs of the Zodiac According to the Alemannic Peoples

The Alemannic dialect and custom areas include the German-speaking Eastern Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Vorarlberg, Baden-Württemberg, above all Southern Baden, Bavarian Suebia (including the Allgäu) up to the Lech, as well as parts of the Tyrolean Lech Valley and Alsace. Here many people plan their lives according to the positions of the moon, that is they recognize the moon is above the solar ecliptic (=ascending) and the moon is below the solar ecliptic (=descending) and the attendant signs of the zodiac. The phases of the moon are known to the Alemannic peoples in their lunar observances, yet these are seldom mentioned in their lunar calendars. The moon is above the solar ecliptic from the beginning of the zodiac sign Capricorn to the end of the sign Gemini. The moon is below the solar ecliptic through the area beginning in Cancer and ending in Sagittarius.

Historical Origins of the Lunar Rules and Beliefs of German-Speaking Peoples:

Alemannic ancestors (a Germanic tribe) were quite versed in astronomy and possessed (exclusively in German-speaking areas) astronomical-astrological knowledge from the Orient concerning the rhythm of the ascending and descending lunar orbit, which is considerably more difficult to recognize than the course of the lunar phases. These phases (waxing moon, full moon, waning moon, new moon or the first quarter to the last quarter), as well as the signs of the zodiac, are important above all to German-speaking peoples outside of the Alemannic regions (Bavarians, Franks, Hessians, Saxons, Prussians, etc.).

Analogies and Contradictions Relative to Lunar Beliefs:

	The lunar rules and beliefs of the Alemannic peoples, which concern the moon is above the solar ecliptic, are analogous to those rules concerning the waxing moon (including full moon) among the Non-Alemannic peoples.
	Equally, the moon is below the solar ecliptic is related to the waning moon (including new moon).
	Since a synodic lunar month (approx. 29 ½ days), which contains all the phases of the moon, is longer than a draconite lunar month (approx. 27 ¼ days), which takes into consideration the position of the moon (moon's orbit with passage of ecliptioa node), there are contradictory time calculations. For example, because of these time differences a waxing moon can rise above the solar ecliptic as well as fall below the solar ecliptic in the course of a solar year (an analogous situation is true for a waning moon). If, on the same day, the moon is waxing and the position is falling below the solar ecliptic, then the contents of the lunar rules overlap each other in the Alemannic and Non-Alemannic regions - meaning that people who believe in the rules of the moon all act and behave differently at the same time.