Naming the full moons

By Joe Rao

updated 4:29 p.m. ET Feb. 22, 2005

Full Moon names date back to Native Americans, of what is now the northern and eastern United States. Those tribes of a few hundred years ago 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. To be sure, there were some variations in the Moon names, but in general the same ones were current throughout the Algonquin tribes from New England on west to Lake Superior. European settlers followed their own customs and created some of their own names.

Since the lunar ("synodic") month is roughly 29.5 days in length on average, the dates of the Full Moon shift from year to year. Below are all the Full Moon names for 2005, as well as the dates and times (for the Eastern time zone).

January 25, 5:32 a.m. EST -- The Full Wolf Moon.
Amid the zero cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. It was also known as the Old Moon or the Moon After Yule. In some tribes this was the Full Snow Moon; most applied that name to the next moon.

February 23, 11:54 p.m. EST -- The Full Snow Moon.
Usually the heaviest snows fall in this month. Hunting becomes very difficult, and hence to some tribes this was the Full Hunger Moon.

March 25, 3:58 p.m. EST -- The Full Worm Moon.
In this month the ground softens and the earthworm casts reappear, inviting the return of the robins. The more northern tribes knew this as the Full Crow Moon, when the cawing of crows signals the end of winter, or the Full Crust Moon because the snow cover becomes crusted from thawing by day and freezing at night. The Full Sap Moon, marking the time of tapping maple trees, is another variation. This is also the Paschal Full Moon; the first full Moon of the spring season. The first Sunday following the Paschal Moon is Easter Sunday, which indeed will be observed two days later on Sunday, March 27.

April 24, 6:06 a.m. EDT -- The Full Pink Moon.
The grass pink or wild ground phlox is one of the earliest widespread flowers of the spring. Other names were the Full Sprouting Grass Moon, the Egg Moon, and -- among coastal tribes -- the Full Fish Moon, when the shad came upstream to spawn.

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