Not only did a full moon begin Tuesday night, July 12th and continue into Wednesday but it appears at its largest for the entire year.
According to the Old Farmers Almanac, it is known as the Buck moon “… because the antlers of male deer (bucks) are in full-growth mode at this time. Bucks shed and regrow their antlers each year, producing a larger and more impressive set as the years go by.”
First Nations Peoples also refer to the moon with a variety of alternative names:
Several other names for this month’s Moon also reference animals, including Feather Moulting Moon (Cree) and Salmon Moon, a Tlingit term indicating when fish returned to the area and were ready to be harvested.
Plants are also featured prominently in July’s Moon names. Some of our favorites are Berry Moon (Anishinaabe), Moon When the Chokecherries are Ripe (Dakota), Month of the Ripe Corn Moon (Cherokee), and Raspberry Moon (Algonquin, Ojibwe).
Thunder Moon (Western Abenaki) and Halfway Summer Moon (Anishinaabe) are alternative variants that refer to the stormy weather and summer season.
Whatever the name, the moon seen over the span of the three nights over Lake Huron in combination with Chantry Island is very impressive as Nan Marie Wismer captured on July 13th.
