Full Moon Native Names

full moon

The first full moon of 2013 will light up the night sky tonight (Jan. 26), but did you know it’s a full moon of many names?

Full moon names date back to Native American tribes of a few hundred years ago who lived in what is now the northern and eastern United States. Those 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.

There were some variations in the moon names, but, in general, the same ones were used 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 (or “synodic”) month is roughly 29.5 days in length on average, the dates of the full moon shift from year to year.

Here is a listing of all of the full moon names, as well as the dates and times for 2013.

http://news.yahoo.com/moon-swoon-2013s-full-moons-got-peculiar-names-143423946.html

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About Roberta Estes

Scientist, author, genetic genealogist. Documenting Native Heritage through contemporaneous records and DNA.
This entry was posted in Algonquian, History. Bookmark the permalink.

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