In the old days, wives would crack the bones of leftovers, sap was turned into sugar, and sucker fish were hooked—all in abundance around the time of April’s Full Pink Moon. Folklore abounds in American lunar heritage. This coming April full moon is no different.
After this last new moon crossed the sun during the recent total solar eclipse, watched by millions in North America on April 8, the current lunar cycle now continues waxing toward peak fullness, to fall on April 23. On that date, the moon will appear fullest at 7:49 p.m. EDT.
Among the many names traditionally given to this moon (not just the full moon, but its entire calendrical month) by Colonial and Native Americans, there is, as mentioned above, the Full Pink Moon.
“How novel, a pink moon!” you say? Well, not really. While full moons such as this one, around the time of the equinoxes, may take on shades of ochre or rust due to their proximity to the horizon, the April full moon is neither pink in appearance by any stretch, nor named for having such particular hue.
The actual origins of the term denote the rebirth of life during the spring season and the early blooms of the markedly pink phlox subulata flowers, commonly known as pink moss phlox or creeping phlox, scattered across the ground.
Life in Colonial America begot all kinds of different lunar names denoting all kinds of things. Full Pink Moon is just one (but perhaps the most common) among myriad moon names hailing from cultures both Native American as well as European. Here is just a sampling of that folklore.
The resurgence of growth in spring, as with phlox subulata, also gave rise to such names as Moon of the Red Grass Appearing, so-called by the Oglala tribe of the Dakotas; the Budding Moon of Plants, of the Tlingit tribe of the Pacific Northwest; and the Sprouting Grass Moon, used by several tribes. With budding flowers, new shoots, and sprouting leaves in this time, the list goes on.
The April moon also marked the spawning of salmon and the roosting of birds, garnering more names: Fish Moon, used by tribes of the Pacific Northwest; Egg Moon commonly denoting the nesting of waterfowl; and the Moon When Geese Lay Eggs, of the Cheyenne.
The resourcefulness shown by people living in Colonial times is amazing. The Dakota called the April moon When Wives Crack Bones for Marrow Fat, denoting the scarcity of game when tribesmen made the best use of every part of hunted animals. April was also when Colonial Americans collected sap from trees to make maple sugar and syrup, hence the name Sugar Maker Moon was born.
And of course, the thawing soil meant it was high time to get started with planting crops. The name used commonly, Planter’s Moon, and that used by the Winnebago tribe of the Great Lakes region, Planting Corn Moon, noted the time when seeding takes place.
Up north, where thawing takes longer, the melting ice came to the forefront in names like Ice Breaking in the River, of the Arapahos of Wyoming; the Breaking Ice Moon, of the Algonquins of Eastern Canada; and the Moon When the Streams Are Navigable Again, of the Dakotas.
For Colonial and Native Americans, life revolved around religion of one kind or another. As the April full moon occurs after the year’s first equinox around the time of Passover, it has been called the Paschal Moon as well as the Passover Moon, marking the Israelites’ freedom from Egypt.
