Full Moon Names and Their Meanings

Full Moon namesdate 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 eachrecurring full Moon. Their names were applied to the entire month in which eachoccurred. There was some variation in the Moon names, but in general, the sameones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New England to Lake Superior. European settlers followed that custom andcreated some of their own names. Since the lunar month is only 29 days long onthe average, the full Moon dates shift from year to year. Here is the FarmersAlmanac’s list of the full Moon names.

• Full Wolf Moon –January Amid the cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howledhungrily outside Indian villages. Thus, the name for January’s full Moon.Sometimes it was also referred to as the Old Moon, or the Moon After Yule. Somecalled it the Full Snow Moon, but most tribes applied that name to the nextMoon.

• Full Snow Moon –February Since the heaviest snow usually falls during this month, native tribesof the north and east most often called February’s full Moon the Full SnowMoon. Some tribes also referred to this Moon as the Full Hunger Moon, sinceharsh weather conditions in their areas made hunting very difficult.

• Full Worm Moon –March As the temperature begins to warm and the ground begins to thaw,earthworm casts appear, heralding the return of the robins. The more northerntribes knew this Moon as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signaledthe end of winter; or the Full Crust Moon, because the snow cover becomescrusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, markingthe time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. To the settlers, it wasalso known as the Lenten Moon, and was considered to be the last full Moon ofwinter.

• Full Pink Moon –April This name came from the herb moss pink, or wild ground phlox, which isone of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names for thismonth’s celestial body include the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, andamong coastal tribes the Full Fish Moon, because this was the time that theshad swam upstream to spawn.

• Full Flower Moon– May In most areas, flowers are abundant everywhere during this time. Thus,the name of this Moon. Other names include the Full Corn Planting Moon, or theMilk Moon.

• Full StrawberryMoon – June This name was universal to every Algonquin tribe. However, in Europe they called it the Rose Moon. Also because therelatively short season for harvesting strawberries comes each year during themonth of June . . . so the full Moon that occurs during that month waschristened for the strawberry!

• The Full BuckMoon – July July is normally the month when the new antlers of buck deer pushout of their foreheads in coatings of velvety fur. It was also often called theFull Thunder Moon, for the reason that thunderstorms are most frequent duringthis time. Another name for this month’s Moon was the Full Hay Moon.

• Full SturgeonMoon – August 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 ofwater, were most readily caught during this month. A few tribes knew it as theFull Red Moon because, as the Moon rises, it appears reddish through any sultryhaze. It was also called the Green Corn Moon or Grain Moon.

• Full Corn Moon orFull Harvest Moon – September This full moon’s name is attributed to NativeAmericans because it marked when corn was supposed to be harvested. Most often,the September full moon is actually the Harvest Moon, which is the full Moonthat occurs closest to the autumn equinox. In two years out of three, theHarvest Moon comes in September, but in some years it occurs in October. At thepeak of harvest, farmers can work late into the night by the light of thisMoon. Usually the full Moon rises an average of 50 minutes later each night,but for the few nights around the Harvest Moon, the Moon seems to rise atnearly the same time each night: just 25 to 30 minutes later across the U.S.,and only 10 to 20 minutes later for much of Canada and Europe. Corn, pumpkins,squash, beans, and wild rice the chief Indian staples are now ready forgathering.

• Full Hunter’sMoon or Full Harvest Moon – October This full Moon is often referred to as theFull Hunter’s Moon, Blood Moon, or Sanguine Moon. Many moons ago, NativeAmericans named this bright moon for obvious reasons. The leaves are fallingfrom trees, the deer are fattened, and it’s time to begin storing up meat forthe long winter ahead. Because the fields were traditionally reaped in lateSeptember or early October, hunters could easily see fox and other animals thatcome out to glean from the fallen grains. Probably because of the threat ofwinter looming close, the Hunter’s Moon is generally accorded with specialhonor, historically serving as an important feast day in both Western Europe and among many Native American tribes.

• Full Beaver Moon– November This was the time to set beaver traps before the swamps froze, toensure a supply of warm winter furs. Another interpretation suggests that thename Full Beaver Moon comes from the fact that the beavers are now activelypreparing for winter. It is sometimes also referred to as the Frosty Moon.

• The Full ColdMoon; or the Full Long Nights Moon – December During this month the winter coldfastens its grip, and nights are at their longest and darkest. It is alsosometimes called the Moon before Yule. The term Long Night Moon is a doublyappropriate name because the midwinter night is indeed long, and because theMoon is above the horizon for a long time.

More About the Names of the Full Moon from The Maine Farmers' Almanac

The Maine Farmers' Almanacfrom c. the 1930s began to publish "Indian" full moon names. TheFarmers' Almanac (since 1955 published in Maine,but not the same publication as the MaineFarmers' Almanac) continues to do so.

An early list of"Indian month names" was published in 1918 by Daniel Carter Beard inhis The American Boy's Book of Signs, Signals and Symbols for use by the boyscouts. Beard's "Indian" month names were:

January:Difficulty, Black Smoke; February: Raccoon, Bare Spots on the Ground; March:Wind, Little Grass, Sore-Eye; April: Ducks, Goose-Eggs; May: Green Grass,Root-Food; June: Corn-Planting, Strawberry; July: Buffalo (Bull), Hot Sun;August: Harvest, Cow Buffalo; September: Wild Rice, Red Plum; October:Leaf-Falling, Nuts; November: Deer-Mating, Fur-Pelts, December: Wolves, BigMoon.

Such names havegained currency in American folklore. They appear in print more widely outsideof the almanac tradition from the 1990s in popular publications about the Moon.Mysteries of the Moon by Patricia Haddock ("Great Mysteries Series",Greenhaven Press, 1992) gave an extensive list of such names along with theindividual tribal groups they were supposedly associated with. Haddock supposesthat certain "Colonial American" moon names were adopted fromAlgonquian languages (which were formerly spoken in the territory of NewEngland), while others are based in European tradition (e.g. the ColonialAmerican names for the May moon, "Milk Moon", "Mother'sMoon", "Hare Moon" have no parallels in the supposed nativenames, while the name of November, "Beaver Moon" is supposedly basedin the Algonquin).

The individualnames given in Farmers' Almanac include:[clarification needed]

January: "WolfMoon" (this is the name of December in Beard 1918) also "OldMoon"

February:"Snow Moon", also "Hunger Moon"

March: "WormMoon", "Crow Moon", "Sap Moon", "LentenMoon"

April: "SeedMoon", "Pink Moon", "Sprouting Grass Moon", "EggMoon" (c.f. "Goose-Egg" in Beard 1918), "Fish Moon"

May: "MilkMoon", "Flower Moon", "Corn Planting Moon"

June: "MeadMoon", "Strawberry Moon" (c.f. Beard 1918), "RoseMoon", "Thunder Moon"

July: "HayMoon", "Buck Moon", "Thunder Moon"

August: "CornMoon", "Sturgeon Moon", "Red Moon", "Green CornMoon", "Grain Moon"

September:"Harvest Moon", "Full Corn Moon",

October:"Hunter's Moon", "Blood Moon"/"Sanguine Moon"

November:"Beaver Moon", "Frosty Moon"

December: "OakMoon", "Cold Moon", "Long Nights Moon"