Farmers' Almanac

Moon Names Explored

What the Farmers' Almanac Missed when Naming the Monthly Moons

A Full Moon by Any Other Name - Native American Style

In the early 1500s, there were approximately 600 tribes known as nations of indigenous peoples in North America (Canada, United States, and Mexico). Each of these populations lived off the land quite successfully before they were forced to give up the land. Each nation had its own government, language, and way of life. For Europeans to consider the natives to be savage was just a way to explain away their acts of violence against "Indians," since, in truth, most of the North American people were no more violent than the Europeans invading this "new land."

It is believed that there were over a million people in North America, native to this land prior to Christopher Columbus' "discovery." By 1900, there were only about three hundred thousand Native Americans left in North America, with many relegated to living on substandard lands known as reservations, managed by the Federal Government.

Well before the Europeans and others immigrated to this land, the Native Americans were living on the land all the way from the Florida coast to the Pacific Northwest, and well into Alaska. On this North American portion of the American Continent, that now speaks predominantly English, along with Spanish and French, there were over 300 distinctly different languages. Of the approximately 570 recognized tribes, there were 229 tribes in Alaska. California had the next highest number of tribes that were recognized by the federal government. Of the remaining tribes that exist today, each has its own agreement with the United States but not all are "managed" nor receive funding from the government.

Each tribe, group, or nation, has their own history and stories to tell. So to assume that they all have the same beliefs, rules, and ideologies, would be like comparing the French to the Germans in their lifestyles simply because they are both nations in Europe.

Many people assume that the members of tribes all receive federal assistance. That is a faulty belief. Not all recognized tribes receive funding from the federal government. Tribal agencies that do receive funding do not necessarily pass the funding directly onto their members. Five Common Myths are: 1) Tribal Members Receive Free Housing (False), 2) Tribal Members Receive a Free College Education (False), 3) All Tribes get Rich from Casinos on Their Land (False), 4) Government or Tribal Funds are Sent to All Members of a Tribe (False), and 5) Native American's Don't Pay Taxes (False). But, you ask, what does this have to do with the Native American Moon Names we love to add each month to our Full Moons. Well, similar to these other misconceptions and assumptions, the, now commonly revered Native American Moon Names used by the Farmers' Almanac, was the proverbial drop in the bucket. So let's dive into some more history.

In the 1940s, a well-known Farmers' Almanac started using the Algonquin tribes' names of the 13 annual Full Moons as they aligned to the monthly calendar. These names grew in popularity, with little recognition to the people who used these names for the 13 lunar cycles annually. The names that the tribe used were usually associated with occurences that were common during each full moon's time of the year, specifically for that tribe. Starting in January, the common names used were Full Wolf Moon, Full Snow Moon [Feb], Full Worm Moon [Mar], Full Pink Moon [Apr], Full Flower Moon [May], Full Strawberry Moon [Jun], Full Buck Moon [Jul], Full Sturgeon Moon [Aug], Full Corn Moon [Sep], Full Harvest Moon [near the fall equinox], Full Hunters Moon [Oct], Full Beaver Moon [Nov], and Full Cold Moon [Dec].

Now to be fair, not all Native American Nations had moon names. Those that did, used moon names that were much different than these listed above. Plus, even within a nation, there may have been additional names based on what was occurring. Many moon names were unique to each tribe, or were similar based on similar life experiences, such as the Freezing Moon, the Windy Moon, the Cracking Tree Moon, or Someone's Ears are Freezing Moon. The point being made is that the monthly moon names that the Farmers' Almanac chose to utilize were not commonly used by all tribes and, as such, were unique, basically, to that region, not the entire country. To call these the "Native American Moon Names" is a disservice to all the other tribes that also had taken the time to name the full moons.

Regardless, indigenous people recognized the distinct differences between the four seasons, the three to four moons within each season, along with the life activities involved with those seasonal changes. Each group of people that did name the moon cycle, had their own preferences. While they may not have had names for each month, the full moon, as the "stand out moon event" each month, was given a name, similar to having a name for a month on the calendar, or the name of a zodiac sign that the moon is transiting through.

Below are three tables of unique and interesting full moon names from tribes all across North America. This is not a comprehensive list. There are way too many to list.

© 2023, J McCaul - do not copy any portion
of this text without author's permission