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From The Old Farmer’s Almanac
FULL MOON FOR DECEMBER 2020
BUNDLE UP FOR DECEMBER’S FULL COLD MOON!
The Old Farmer’s Almanac
By The Editors
November 29, 2020
December’s Cold Moon reaches peak illumination on Tuesday, December 29, 2020, at 10:30 P.M. EST.
Start looking for the full Moon just before sunset as it begins to peek above the horizon. To find the exact time that it will appear in your area, consult our Moonrise Calculator.
What makes this full Moon special? It’s most distinctive for its high trajectory across the sky, which results in the full Moon sitting above the horizon for a longer period of time.
WHY IS IT CALLED THE COLD MOON?
The Moon names we use in The Old Farmer’s Almanac come from Native American, Colonial American, or other traditional sources passed down through generations. A variety of Native American societies traditionally used the monthly Moons and nature’s corresponding signs as a calendar to track the seasons.
Today, December’s full Moon is most commonly known as the Cold Moon—a Mohawk name that conveys the frigid conditions of this time of year, when cold weather truly begins to grip us.
Other names that allude to the cold and snow include Drift Clearing Moon (Cree), Frost Exploding Trees Moon (Cree), Moon of the Popping Trees (Oglala), Hoar Frost Moon (Cree), Snow Moon (Haida, Cherokee), and Winter Maker Moon (Western Abenaki).
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