Full Snow Moon

Native Americans have long grown familiar with this moon.   

The origin of the name is rooted in the reality that February has the largest amount of accumulated snowfall here in this part of the northern hemisphere.

As a consequence of its association with hunger and starvation members of the Cherokee nation refer to this month’s full moon as the Bone Moon and the necessity of cracking-open bones to access the marrow for survival food.  Those of the Kalapuya nation referred to this as the Out of Food Moon.   For others it was the Little Famine Moon or the Hunger Moon. 

The Ojibwa call this the Bear Moon, the Lakota people know it as the Raccoon Moon, to the Cree nation this is the Bald Eagle Moon and because bear cubs arrive this month the Tlingit people call this the Black Bear Moon. 

Indeed, these ancient native tribes named this moon after the way trees cracked in the cold, or how people had to huddle around a fire for warmth.  My own people – the early Celts – remember this as the Moon of Ice as it is associated with the coldest month of the year.

 Photo NASA

Watch for it to climb above the horizon in the east around sunset and reach its highest point in the sky around midnight.

The Snow Moon should reached peak illumination at 2:19 A.M. CST tomorrow morning, February 27.   

Fingers-crossed for cold, clear, winter skies.