A. Venefica’s Weblog: Symbolic Meanings

Native American symbolic full moon names (below listed) were established by eastern and northern tribes such as the Algonquin & the Iroquois Confederacy.  These remarkable people assigned attributes to each of the full moons according to the seasonal characteristics.   The symbolic Native American full moon names are as follows:

• Wolf Moon:  The full moon in January.  Said to be called the Wolf Moon because the wolves are out in the bright light this time of year - anxious and hot on the the trail for a feast to slake their hunger in the lean winter month. 
• Snow Moon:  The full moon of February.  At this time the northeastern regions can give up their most heaviest of snow falls.  This full moon is also called the hunger or hungry moon because the grips of winter can make it another lean month for the belly of both man and beast.
• Magpie Moon:  Or Crow Moon.  The symbolic full moon name for March.  Considered the last full moon of winter; the crow caws its farewell to the season.  Also known as the Worm Moon because they start to surface at this time, also signaling retreat of winter and the marching in of springtime.
• Egg Moon: The full moon of April.  Also known as the pink moon.  Both names indicate the sprouting of seed and the explosion of bright beauty found in the phlox (pink) and other flowers rising for the spring debut.
• Flower Moon: Full moon name of May.  Quite simply, May brings bright brushes to paint the earth canvas with infinite flowers.  In the full moon light of this month, the flowers are said to grow at night, and even dance in honor of the moon.
• Strawberry Moon: The symbolic full moon name for June.  This is also an easy one to understand.  June is the picking time for strawberries, when their at their ripest and fullest.  Picking by moonlight is said to honor the crops, and insure bigger bounty next picking season.
• Thunder Moon: Full moon of July.  For these tribes, it was observed that this month is notorious for big booms of thunder and storms.  Thus, the symbolic full moon name of “thunder moon.”  Also referred to as Buck moon because deer begin forming their antlers at this time of year.
• Red Moon: The full moon name for August.  Those lazy days of summer when the moon is watched in its fullness and widens herself to the admiring sun.  This is the month when summer kisses the moon most tender and we most often see a blush-colored or reddish hued moon.  To the tribes of the Great Lakes it is a Sturgeon moon because this is when they are caught most.
• Harvest Moon:Full moon of September.  The famous “harvest moon” represents the most adventageous time-frame in which we can pick (harvest) crops from the garden.  The Native Americans knew this - they knew they would have almost a half hour more time to harvest their bounty beneath the helpful luminosity of the moon.
• Hunters Moon:  The full moon of October.  This is another symbolic moon name that’s obvious.  This time represents the onset of prime hunting season.  Heavy foliage is drifting away as quick as the season, and deer are a bit buggy this time of year.  That means their easy to see clearly and easily downed for the First People’s purposes.
• Beaver Moon:  The full moon name for November.  As we’ve seen in the prior months, each symbolic name references a point within the epitome of the month.  Beavers are coming into their fullness in November.  So much so that the Natives knew to set traps early in the month because the beaver would be in her glory. 
• Cold Moon:  The symbolic full moon name for December.  Also known as the ”Long Night Moon.”   Coming full circle, we find ourselves again in the frigid realm of winter.  This is the month when some of the coldest and the longest nights live.  Hence the symbolic names for this full moon of December.