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I have the scan of a February 1940 calendar (inside a military booklet?) from a Finnish soldier during the Winter War. On the Friday 23, there is some kind of glyph (it looks like the Swedish Three Crowns). What is the glyph significance for that date?

Here is the page in question:

Feb 1940

For those curious on the 29th the capture of Lemetti is noted by the soldier.

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Look at the right side. You can make out the print from the opposing side. For March 1st (7 days later), there is a sign that looks like a half of that round sign, and on March 9th (15 days later), it appears dark.

It is a sign marking the full moon, which you can verify with a moon phase calculator.

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  • 3
    Plugged it into another calculator, it checks out - full moon on Feb 23rd, new moon on March 9th
    – SPavel ♦
    Commented Apr 8 at 17:59
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    @SPavel Thanks for finding a page where the date can be set in the request – I was looking for just that. I included it in the answer now.
    – ccprog
    Commented Apr 8 at 18:07
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    That make so much sense since the Moon phases are quite important for military operations!
    – AlexV
    Commented Apr 8 at 21:38
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    @AlexV Now I am wondering what the military relevance of name days is ;)
    – ccprog
    Commented Apr 9 at 17:36
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    @ccprog Name days are such a standard feature of Finnish calendars, it would probably have been unthinkable to leave them out. But for military significance, it reminds of normal life and family members back at the home front, so it might count as morale & motivational support.
    – user9557
    Commented Apr 10 at 14:55

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