{"id":27283,"date":"2023-05-05T20:00:13","date_gmt":"2023-05-05T18:00:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=143169"},"modified":"2023-05-05T20:37:12","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T18:37:12","slug":"why-tonights-may-full-moon-is-called-the-flower-moon","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/why-tonights-may-full-moon-is-called-the-flower-moon\/","title":{"rendered":"Why tonight\u2019s May full Moon is called the Flower Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"

And for this year only, a full Coronation Flower Moon. <\/p>

By Holly Spanner\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Friday, 05 May 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

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Known as the Flower Moon, May\u2019s full Moon will rise on the evening of the Coronation, 5 May 2023<\/strong>, at 8:35pm BST<\/strong>. Some of the names for full Moons are literal, so you may have already guessed where the name Flower Moon comes from. But are you right?<\/p>\n

\u201cNaming the full Moons has been done by ancient peoples around the world to mark events, as well as to act as a calendar,\u201d explains Dr Darren Baskill,<\/a> astronomy lecturer at the University of Sussex.<\/p>\n

Although we have different names for different months now, in the past they had different names for different full Moons for the same reason \u2013 as a calendar to keep track of the passage of time.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s perhaps no surprise then, that the name \u2018Flower Moon\u2019 derives from the many flowers, particularly wildflowers, that burst into bloom during May.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we might now say to a friend, \u201cLet\u2019s meet at 1pm on Sunday 7 May, we could equally say: \u201cLet\u2019s meet two days after the full Flower Moon when the Sun<\/a> is highest in the sky, and both mean the same time to within a few minutes,\u201d explains Baskill.<\/p>\n

Other names for the May full Moon include the \u2018Blossom Moon\u2019 and the gloriously practical reminder that is the \u2018Corn-planting Moon\u2019. The rather wonderful \u2018Moon when the horses get fat\u2019 was used among the Cheyenne of the American Great Plains.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile the Full Moon names in common use today originate from North America, a huge variety of names were used by indigenous cultures both across North America, Europe and around the world,\u201d Baskill says.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe name Flower Moon was used by those native to areas where carpets of flowers bloomed at this time of year, but other Native American cultures used different names depending on what was happening in their locality at that time of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

In some parts of the UK, the May Full Moon was called the Mothers\u2019 Moon, as that is when a wide variety of animals are busy looking after their young,\u201d says Baskill.<\/p>\n

The next full moon is popularly known as the Strawberry Moon and will rise on 4 June 2023.<\/p>\n

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About our expert<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Dr Darren Baskill is an outreach officer and lecturer in the department of physics and astronomy at the University of Sussex. He previously lectured at the Royal Observatory Greenwich, where he also initiated the annual Astronomy Photographer of the Year competition.<\/p>\n