Today’s full moon is called the Harvest Moon.
It is the full moon closest to the autumnal equinox (before or after the equinox), usually falling in September. September’s full moon was 16 days before the autumn equinox, the October full moon is 13 days after, so this year the Harvest moon is in October, October 5.
Cultures around the world have special names that the moon is called according to it’s phase and season, especially the full moons.
Why?
Because the moon could be used to track the seasons and help to guide activities, like planting and harvest.
Because of the tilt of the earth and the way the earth, sun, and moon “behave” around the equinox there is a slight shift in when the moon rises around the autumn equinox, so instead of rising ~50 minutes later each night it rises 10-30 minutes later (depending on how far north you are). See our QuestX
post on the moon’s shifting orbit around the earth (in QuestX ‘s The Moon Series) for more information. The moon rises very shortly after the sun sets resulting in day light transitioning into a bright night, light enough for farmers to work into the evening, harvesting crops, so the Europeans called this moon “Harvest Moon”.
Other names for the October full moon:
| Northern Hemisphere (Autumn Moon) | Southern Hemisphere (Spring Moon) |
| Hunter’s Moon | Egg Moon |
| Dying Grass Moon | Fish Moon |
| Blood Moon | Seed Moon |
| Sanguine Moon | Pink Moon |
| Travel Moon | Waking Moon |