Full Moons and Full Facts

Why do we See a Full Moon Every Month?

The Moon doesn’t create its own light – it’s reflecting light from the Sun. And the Moon circles around the Earth in an orbit which takes about one month.  

As it moves, half of the Moon is always lit up by the Sun. But from the Earth, the half of the Moon that we can see changes. So, at the beginning of the cycle, we don’t really see the Moon because the Sun is lighting up the opposite side of the Moon than is facing us on Earth. As it orbits over the month its position changes and we start to see more of its lit up side. 

Increasing amounts of the Moon appear lit up until we arrive at the full moon, which is when the Moon is on the opposite side of the Earth to the Sun. At this point, the half of the Moon lit up by the Sun, is the same half that we can see from Earth. 

This whole cycle (going from new moon through the phases to full moon and back to new moon again) takes about 29.5 days to complete. 

Native Full Moon Names

For thousands of years the Moon has been an incredibly useful tool for tracking the passage of time. People have used it to plan their year for things like hunting and farming. To help with this, ancient cultures gave each full moon a name based on the things they observed around them at that time of the full moon.  

Here are some of the names (typically from native North America) and the meanings behind them: 

January – Wolf Moon 

Named after the hungry wolves heard howling in the dead of winter. 

February – Snow Moon 

Named due to the cold and snowy Februarys experienced in North America. 

March – Worm Moon 

Named as such because as the cold thawed people were able to see worm trails on the warming grounds. 

April – Pink Moon 

Named after a blooming wildflower that appears early in North America. 

May – Flower Moon 

Named to mark the point in the year that flowers bloomed again. 

June – Strawberry Moon 

Named to mark when it was favourable to start harvesting strawberries.  

July – Buck Moon 

Named after bucks (male deer) who would start to regrow their antlers at this time of year.  

August – Sturgeon Moon 

Named by North American fishing tribes who realised the sturgeon fish were abundant in this month. 

September – Harvest Moon 

Named after the time that farmers would start to gather or harvest their crops.  

October – Hunter’s Moon 

Named to mark the best time of the year to hunt, as animals would be plump from abundant food throughout the summer. 

November – Beaver Moon 

Named to mark when people would set beaver traps, or when beavers became very active, getting ready for winter. 

December – Cold Moon 

Named to mark when winter in the Northern hemisphere started to set and the weather became colder.