The December full moon is called the Oak Moon,
or the Cold Moon, Snow Moon, Moon Before Yule, Peach Moon, Twelfth Moon, Christmas Moon, Margashirsha Poornima or finally the Bitter Moon.
It really depends on background or how you look at the moon.
Initially, I though that only a few moons had names, e.g. Blue, Harvest and Hunters. But in doing a little search on the web I found that my view was pretty narrow. It appears that there were some cultures in old Europe that named moons, namely the Celts and English, but the named moons really took off once the Native Americans came into the picture. This may have been from use of numeric systems for calendars in Europe or the closeness on Native Americans to the environment that they lived, but I really don't know and I didn't sleep at a Holiday Inn Express last night.
It also appears that moons had names in other areas also, many more, then you will see, I have captured.
Here is a partial list of moon names and the cultures that used them. I plagiarized this list from multiple sources, so in today's world I think it can be classified as actual research at this point.
The Dakotah Sioux names are some of the most interesting when thinking about what had to happen (scale/scope) in order for the moon to be named after the described events.
Lets start with the old Europe moon names:
Month | English | English Medieval | Celtic |
January | Old Moon | Wolf Moon | Quite Moon |
February | Wolf Moon | Storm Moon | Moon of Ice |
March | Lenten Moon | Chaste Moon | Moon of Winds |
April | Egg Moon | Seed Moon | Growing Moon |
May | Milk Moon | Hare Moon | Bright Moon |
June | Flower Moon | Dyan Moon | Moon of Horses |
July | Hay Moon | Mead Moon | Moon of Claiming |
August | Grain Moon | Corn Moon | Dispute Moon |
September | Fruit Moon | Barley Moon | Singing Moon |
October | Harvest Moon | Blood Moon | Harvest Moon |
November | Hunter's Moon | Snow Moon | Dark Moon |
December | Oak Moon | Oak Moon | Cold Moon |
Month | Native American** | Cherokee | Ottewell (Cherokee) | |||
January | Wolf Moon | Cold Moon | Moon After Yule | |||
February | Snow Moon | Bony Moon | | |||
March | Worm Moon | Windy Moon | Lenten | |||
April | Pink Moon | Flower Moon | Egg | |||
May | Flower Moon | Planting Moon | | |||
June | Strawberry Moon | Green Corn Moon | Flower | |||
July | Buck Moon | Ripe Corn Moon | Hay | |||
August | Sturgeon Moon | Fruit Moon | Grain | |||
September | Harvest Moon | Nut Moon | | |||
October | Hunter's Moon | Harvest Moon | Hunter's | |||
November | Beaver Moon | Trading Moon | Hunter's | |||
December | Cold Moon | Snow Moon | Moon Before Yule |
Month | Choctaw | Dakotah Sioux | Algonquin / Colonial |
January | Cooking Moon | Moon of the Terrible | Old |
February | Little Famine Moon | Moon of the Raccoon, Moon When Trees Pop | Hunger |
March | Big Famine Moon | Moon When Eyes Are Sore from Bright Snow | Crust |
April | Wildcat Moon | Moon When Geese Return in Scattered Formation | Pink |
May | Panther Moon | Moon When Leaves Are Green, Moon To Plant | Flower |
June | Windy Moon | Moon When June Berries Are Ripe | Rose |
July | Crane Moon | Moon of the Middle Summer | Buck |
August | Women's Moon | Moon When All Things Ripen | Sturgeon |
September | Mulberry Moon | Moon When The Calves Grow Hair | Harvest |
October | Blackberry Moon | Moon When Quilling and Beading is Done | Hunter's |
November | Sassafras Moon | Moon When Horns Are Broken Off | Beaver |
December | Peach Moon | Twelfth Moon | Cold |
Month | Colonial American |
January | Winter Moon |
February | Trapper's Moon |
March | Fish Moon |
April | Planter's Moon |
May | Milk Moon |
June | Rose Moon |
July | Summer Moon |
August | Dog Day's Moon |
September | Harvest Moon |
October | Hunter's Moon |
November | Beaver Moon |
December | Christmas Moon |
Month | Hindu Names | Chinese | New Guinea | |||||
January | Paush Poornima | Holiday Moon | Rainbow Fish Moon | |||||
February | Magh Poornima | Budding Moon | Parriotfish Moon | |||||
March | Holi | Sleepy Moon | Palolo Worm Moon | |||||
April | Hanuman Jayanti | Peony Moon | Flying Fish Moon | |||||
May | Buddha Poornima | Dragon Moon | Black Trevally Moon | |||||
June | Wat Poornima | Lotus Moon | Open Sea Moon | |||||
July | Guru Poornima | Hungry Ghost Moon | Tiger Shark Moon | |||||
August | Narali Poornima, Raksha bandhan | Harvest Moon | Rain & Wind Moon | |||||
September | Bhadrapad Poornima | Chrysanthemum Moon | | |||||
October | Kojagiri or Sharad Poornima | Kindly Moon | | |||||
November | Kartik Poornima | White Moon | | |||||
December | Margashirsha Poornima | Bitter Moon | |
Month | Wiccan | Neo Pagan | Seasonal* | Un-Named #1 | Other |
January | Wolf | Ice Moon | winter 1st - Moon after Yule | Old | |
February | Storm | Snow Moon | winter 2nd -Wolf Moon | Snow | Candles Moon; Magpie |
March | Chaste | Death Moon | winter last - Lenten Moon | Sap | Sap; Crow; Sugar; Crow |
April | Seed | Awakening Moon | spring 1st - Egg, Easter, or Paschal Moon | Grass | Grass(Sprouting); Moon of the Red Grass Appearing; Fish; Waking |
May | Hare | Grass Moon | spring 2nd - Milk Moon | Milk | Corn Planting; Corn |
June | Dyad | Planting Moon | spring last - Flower Moon | Rose | Honey, Hot |
July | Mead | Rose Moon | summer 1st - Hay Moon | Thunder | Thunder |
August | Wyrt | Lightening Moon | summer 2nd - Grain Moon | Green Corn | Red; Corn; Green Corn; Dog |
September | Barley | Harvest Moon | summer last - Fruit Moon | Fruit | Corn |
October | Blood | Blood Moon | autumn 1st - Harvest Moon | Harvest | Travel; Dying Grass |
November | Snow | Tree Moon | autumn 2nd - Hunter's Moon | Frost | Frosty |
December | Oak | Long Night Moon | autumn last - Moon before Yule | Long Night | Moon Before Yule; Frost |
When is the Moon 'blue,' in a calendar sense?
According to the Maine almanac, a Blue Moon occurs when a season has four full Moons, rather than the usual three. This type of Blue Moon is found only in February, May, August, and November, one month before the next equinox or solstice.
According to modern folklore, a Blue Moon is the second full Moon in a calendar month. This type of Blue Moon can occur in any month but February, which is always shorter than the time between successive full Moons.
So pick whether you want to follow folklore or the almanac.
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