Cold Moon, Beaver Moon, Child Moon: The full moon on Sunday evening has many names

CASPER, Wyo – The waxing gibbous moon will appear full for 3 consecutive nights starting Saturday night, according to NASA. Being the last full moon before the winter solstice in the Northern Hemisphere, it has been given a number of meanings and nicknames.

83% of the moon will be in the shadow of the Earth at 2:44 am on Monday morning. While this partial eclipse will likely not be discernible to the naked eye, NASA said the solar-powered Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter will experience a marked reduction in power.

As there were two full moons in October, NASA said the names by season and names by month will be offset until the summer of 2021.

“Going by month, [Nov. 30’s] the full moon would be the beaver moon and the subsequent full moon on December 29 would be the cold moon, “said NASA. These Algonquin names, tied to seasons rather than a particular month, were first published in the years’ 30 in the Maine Farmer’s Almanac.

Sunday’s event is also known as the Baby Moon, so named because it will be the first sunset of the year with a full moon in the sky. Other names include Frost Moon and seasonally appropriate Winter Moon.

Europeans called this full moon, the last before the winter solstice, the Oak Moon, believing it to date back to the ancient Druid traditions of harvesting mistletoe from oaks first recorded by the Roman historian Pliny the Elder in the 1st century AD, NASA said. Europeans also called it the “Moon before Christmas”.

Hindus celebrate the alignment of this full moon with the Pleiades constellation with Karthika Deepam, a festival of lights.

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