This is a multi-part message in MIME format. --------------6DC239046F90 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Hello Fellow Listers: Thank you Doris [onale@comteck.com] for the following: Best Wishes... Donna HELLER ZINN > Jeeves answered: > "I have received lots of questions about the quarter moon seen above the > door in most outhouses. > The answer lies in the lighting inside because outhouses were around before > electricity. The best way to let light in was to put in a window. For > privacy reasons, most outhouses were designed with the window above the line > of sight. Many early outhouses contained a decorative "moon cutout" covered > by glass. This allowed just enough light in to take care of business! It > also allowed the real moon to shine through during the night. Bringing a lit > lantern into some outhouses could have caused quite a bang so the moon won > out! In reality, most people had a covered pot under the bed to go in during > the night. Get's mighty cold at night going outside and the varmints are > something else! > Here is another explanation... > Probably the most recognizable symbol associated symbol with the traditional > outhouse building is the familiar crescent moon carved into the privy door. > Actually, the symbol is an ancient one, and was a sign for womanhood in > colonial days and on the frontier. It's male counterpart, Sol, was either a > star or a sun burst design also on the door. Since most male outhouses fell > into disrepair rather quickly they seldom survived; while the female ones > were better maintained, and were eventually used by both sexes. Although you > can find outhouses still standing with the crescent moon, the original > meaning for gender identification was lost by the later nineteenth century > in most areas of the country. > Here is another response from another person... The moon that is often found > on the outhouse door stand for the ancient sign- luna- or womanhood. When > the outhouse was first invented people needed these signs to discern which > was the men's or women's bathroom-for most people couldn't read. Soon, > however, the men's became rundown or was very unkempt and not maintained. So > everybody just used the women's bathroom, and the mens sunburst or sol sign > was forgotten. The moon sign was kept and is also used as a vent. > Another person corrects the term "quarter moon" as follows. This person > obviously knows more about the sky than I do: The first sentence states that > it is a quarter moon. A quarter moon, however, is a half lit moon where the > terminator is half-way between each side of the disk. It would be more > accurate to refer to the moon as a crescent moon in all cases. And if you > wanted to be pedantic about it you could go so far as to call it a waxing or > waning crescent moon depending on which side is lit." > > I went to askjeeves.com and typed in the question "Why are there crescent > moons on outhouse doors?" > > > --------------6DC239046F90 Content-Type: message/rfc822 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Content-Disposition: inline X-From_: onale@comteck.com Sun Feb 11 19:24:15 2001 Return-Path: <onale@comteck.com> Received: from pulse.comteck.com (pulse.comteck.com [209.45.185.5]) by mail.pa.net (8.11.0/8.11.0) with ESMTP id f1C0O9g19011 for <djzinn@pa.net>; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 19:24:14 -0500 Received: from compzone (ip45-136-139.comteck.com [209.45.136.139]) by pulse.comteck.com (8.11.1/8.11.1) with SMTP id f1C0O5r52851 for <djzinn@pa.net>; Sun, 11 Feb 2001 19:24:05 -0500 (EST) (envelope-from onale@comteck.com) Message-ID: <001c01c0948b$5d1b2940$8b882dd1@comteck.com> From: "DorisO.Sink" <onale@comteck.com> To: <djzinn@pa.net> References: <3A86E5CF.2EDC@pa.net> Subject: Re: [PAFRANKL] Cresent Moon Over the Outhouse Door Date: Sun, 11 Feb 2001 19:33:03 -0500 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 5.00.2615.200 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2615.200 Jeeves answered. "I have received lots of questions about the quarter moon seen above the door in most outhouses. The answer lies in the lighting inside because outhouses were around before electricity. The best way to let light in was to put in a window. For privacy reasons, most outhouses were designed with the window above the line of sight. Many early outhouses contained a decorative "moon cutout" covered by glass. This allowed just enough light in to take care of business! It also allowed the real moon to shine through during the night. Bringing a lit lantern into some outhouses could have caused quite a bang so the moon won out! In reality, most people had a covered pot under the bed to go in during the night. Get's mighty cold at night going outside and the varmints are something else! Here is another explanation... Probably the most recognizable symbol associated symbol with the traditional outhouse building is the familiar crescent moon carved into the privy door. Actually, the symbol is an ancient one, and was a sign for womanhood in colonial days and on the frontier. It's male counterpart, Sol, was either a star or a sun burst design also on the door. Since most male outhouses fell into disrepair rather quickly they seldom survived; while the female ones were better maintained, and were eventually used by both sexes. Although you can find outhouses still standing with the crescent moon, the original meaning for gender identification was lost by the later nineteenth century in most areas of the country. Here is another response from another person... The moon that is often found on the outhouse door stand for the ancient sign- luna- or womanhood. When the outhouse was first invented people needed these signs to discern which was the men's or women's bathroom-for most people couldn't read. Soon, however, the men's became rundown or was very unkempt and not maintained. So everybody just used the women's bathroom, and the mens sunburst or sol sign was forgotten. The moon sign was kept and is also used as a vent. Another person corrects the term "quarter moon" as follows. This person obviously knows more about the sky than I do: The first sentence states that it is a quarter moon. A quarter moon, however, is a half lit moon where the terminator is half-way between each side of the disk. It would be more accurate to refer to the moon as a crescent moon in all cases. And if you wanted to be pedantic about it you could go so far as to call it a waxing or waning crescent moon depending on which side is lit." I went to askjeeves.com and typed in the question "Why are there crescent moons on outhouse doors?" ----- Original Message ----- From: Donna Heller Zinn <djzinn@pa.net> To: <PAFRANKL-L@rootsweb.com> Sent: Sunday, February 11, 2001 2:19 PM Subject: [PAFRANKL] Cresent Moon Over the Outhouse Door > Hello Listers: > > Thanks so much for all of the answers to my previous question/posting as > to "What is the origin and why do we cut a Cresent Moon over the > outhouse door?". > > The majority replied that it was a Cresent Moon placed on the door of > the "ladies room" while a star was placed on the door of the "gents > room". > > Thanks again for the help! > Donna HELLER ZINN of Newville, Cumberland Co., PA. > > --------------6DC239046F90--