Did you know that each full moon has a name? Full Moon names date back to Native Americans, of what is now the northern and eastern United States. The tribes kept track of the seasons by giving distinctive names to each recurring full Moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which each occurred. European settlers followed that custom and created some of their own names. Since the lunar month is only 29 days long on the average, the full Moon dates shift from year to year. Here is the Farmers Almanac's list of the full Moon names.
• January - Full Wolf Moon: Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. Some call it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the next Moon.
• February - Full Snow Moon: Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribes of the north and east most often called February's full Moon the Full Snow Moon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, since harsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.
• March - Full Worm Moon: As the temperature begins to warm and the ground begins to thaw, earthworm casts appear, heralding the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this Moon as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaled the end of winter; or the Full Crust Moon, because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night.
• April - Full Pink Moon: This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Coastal tribes refer to April’s moon as the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that the shad swam upstream to spawn.
• May - Full Flower Moon: In most areas, flowers are abundant everywhere during this time.
• June - Full Strawberry Moon: This name was universal to every Algonquin tribe. However, in Europe they called it the Rose Moon. Also because the relatively short season for harvesting strawberries comes each year during the month of June . . . so the full Moon that occurs during that month was christened for the strawberry!
• July - The Full Buck Moon: July is normally the month when the new antlers of buck deer push out of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called the Full Thunder Moon, for the reason that thunderstorms are most frequent during this time.
• August - Full Sturgeon Moon: The fishing tribes are given credit for the naming of this Moon, since sturgeon, a large fish of the Great Lakes and other major bodies of water, were most readily caught during this month.
• September - Full Harvest Moon: This is the full Moon that occurs closest to the autumn equinox. In two years out of three, the Harvest Moon comes in September, but in some years it occurs in October.
• October - Full Hunter's Moon: With the leaves falling and the deer fattened, it is time to hunt. Since the fields have been reaped, hunters can easily see fox and the animals which have come out to glean.
• November - Full Beaver Moon: This was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, to ensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that the name Full Beaver Moon comes from the fact that the beavers are now actively preparing for winter.
• December - The Full Cold Moon; or the Full Long Nights Moon: During this month the winter cold fastens its grip, and nights are at their longest and darkest. It is also sometimes called the Moon before Yule. The term Long Night Moon is a doubly appropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long, and because the Moon is above the horizon for a long time.
Enjoy tonight's full moon!
Stace
Enjoy this month's Hunter Moon. I didn't take this photo, but I wish I had.
