When to See the ‘cold Moon’ in December
The bloody eclipse of the beaver moon in November was spectacular, but the December full moon shouldn’t be dismissed. The December full moon, known as the “cold moon”, will rise on Saturday, December 18, 2021. The brightness is greatest at 11:37 pm ET. Brrr.
Is there something special about the December full moon?
The full moon of each month is special in its own way, but honestly, December is great. It will be high in the sky, which will make it visible longer above the horizon, so it ‘s something . And even an ordinary full moon is cool.
If you want to pinpoint when you can see the December full moon (and any other moon), here is a moonrise and moonset calculator for you to read. Personally, I don’t plan my moonlit voyeur that way in advance. I just go out into the street at night and say, “Oh, look. Moon.”
Why is it called the “cold moon”?
Full moon names come from the indigenous peoples of America and are often colorful descriptions of the changes in nature that occur during this time of year. The cold moon gets its name from the Mohawks because it is cold in December. (I am assuming that whoever came up with the names of the moons had a month unrelated to creativity.)
According to the Farmer’s Almanac , the December moon is also sometimes called the Drifting Moon (Cree), the Moon of Exploding Frost Trees (Cree), the Moon of Exploding Trees (Oglala), the Moon of Hoarfrost (Cree), and the Snow Moon (Haida, Cherokee). ), Winter Creator Moon (Western Abenaki), Long Night Moon and Moon when the deer shed their antlers. All of these titles are clearly better than Cold Moon. In Europe, the December moon is referred to as the “moon before Yule”, which brings up even fewer memories than the “cold moon”.
Preview (spoiler alert!) There will be a full moon in January too … and it will be completely nude!