IT’S EYES TO THE SKIES FOR EARLY OCTOBER’S ‘HARVEST MOON’

If you look in the sky this evening in a north-easterly direction at around 6:30pm, you will see this month’s ‘harvest moon’, the name given to the full moon in the month of late September / early October, although this month has 2 full moons, with October being the month of the ‘Blue Moon’ at the end of the month.  The term ‘Blue Moon’ is an additional full moon that appears in a subdivision of a year: either the third of four full moons in a season, or a second full moon in a month of the common calendar.

The “harvest moon” and the “hunter’s moon” are traditional names for the full moons in late summer and in the autumn in the Northern Hemisphere, usually in September and October, respectively. The “harvest moon” is the full moon nearest to the autumnal equinox (22 or 23 September), occurring anytime within two weeks before or after that date. The “hunter’s moon” is the full moon following it. The names are recorded from the early 18th century. These years “hunters moon” will be a “blue moon”. Every full moon has a unique and individual name, although these names do vary from area to area. These names have usually had some historical meaning behind them and relate to events that date back to the before the devising of astrological calendars.

January: “Wolf Moon”, “Old Moon”, “Moon After Yule”, “Winter Moon”
February: “Snow Moon”, “Hunger Moon”, “Storm Moon”
March: “Worm Moon”, “Crow Moon”, “Sap Moon”, “Crust Moon”, “Lenten Moon”, “Wind Moon”
April: “Seed Moon”, “Pink Moon”, “Sprouting Grass Moon”, “Pascal Moon”, “Egg Moon”, “Fish Moon”, “Frog Moon”, “Spring Moon”, “Awakening Moon”, “Sap Moon”
May: “Milk Moon”, “Flower Moon”, “Corn Planting Moon”, “Grass Moon”, “Mother’s Moon”
June: “Mead Moon”, “Strawberry Moon”, “Rose Moon”, “Hot Moon”, “Thunder Moon”
July: “Hay Moon”, “Buck Moon”, “Elk Moon”, “Summer Moon”, “Thunder Moon”
August: “Corn Moon”, “Sturgeon Moon”, “Red Moon”, “Barley Moon”, “Green Corn Moon”, “Grain Moon”, “Herb Moon”, “Wyrt Moon”, “Dog Moon”
September: “Harvest Moon”, “Corn Moon”, “Fruit Moon”, “Barley Moon”
October: “Hunter’s Moon”, “Blood Moon”, “Autumn Moon”, “Fall Moon”, “Sanguine Moon”, “Pumpkin Moon”, “Dying Moon”
November: “Beaver Moon”, “Turkey Moon”, “Frosty Moon”, “Dark Moon”
December: “Oak Moon”, “Cold Moon”, “Long Night’s Moon”