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Watch for the full Hunter’s Moon on October 9th .
The Harvest, the Hunter, and the Equinox
~ from the Farmer's Almanac
For decades, the Almanac has referenced the monthly full Moons with names tied to early Native American, Colonial American, and European folklore. Traditionally, each full Moon name was applied to the entire lunar month in which it occurred and through all of the Moon’s phases—not only the full Moon.
The Harvest Moon and the Hunter’s Moon are unique in that they are not directly related to this folklore, nor necessarily restricted to a single month. Instead, they are tied to an astronomical event: the autumnal equinox!
The Harvest Moon is the full Moon which occurs nearest to the date of the autumnal equinox (September 22, 2022). This means that either September or October’s full Moon may take on the name “Harvest Moon” instead of its traditional name. Similarly, the Hunter’s Moon is the first full Moon to follow the Harvest Moon, meaning that it can occur in either October or November.
This year, the Harvest Moon occurred on September 10, so the Hunter’s Moon will follow it one lunar cycle later, on October 9.
Why Is It Called the Hunter’s Moon?
It is believed that this full Moon came to be called the full Hunter’s Moon because it signaled the time to go hunting in preparation for the cold winter ahead. Animals are beginning to fatten up ahead of winter, and since the farmers had recently cleaned out their fields under the Harvest Moon, hunters could easily see the deer and other animals that had come out to root through the remaining scraps (as well as the foxes and wolves that had come out to prey on them).
The earliest use of the term “Hunter’s Moon,” cited in the Oxford English Dictionary, is from 1710. Some sources suggest that other names for the Hunter’s Moon are the Sanguine or Blood Moon, either associated with the blood from hunting or the color of the changing autumn leaves.
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