The Beaver Moon peaks this weekend at 1:22 a.m. ET on Saturday.
The phenomenon is also called a Frost Moon, but both names describe the same thing: the full moon.
In fact, these two labels join dozens of other names for this phase of Earth's largest satellite. The terms change from month to month:
- January: Wolf Moon, Old Moon.
- February: Snow Moon, Hunger Moon.
- March: Worm Moon, Sap Moon, Crow Moon.
- April: Pink Moon, Grass Moon, Fish Moon.
- May: Flower Moon, Planting Moon.
- June: Strawberry Moon, Rose Moon.
- July: Buck Moon, Thunder Moon, Hay Moon.
- August: Sturgeon Moon, Red Moon.
- September: Harvest Moon, Corn Moon.
- October: Hunter's Moon.
- November: Beaver Moon, Frost Moon.
- December: Cold Moon, Long Night's Moon.
Yes, these names all refer to the full moon.
Native Americans and others accumulated them over millennia to help signal important seasonal changes and activities. (November was a good time to trap beavers, for instance.)
There are also more contemporary names like supermoons and blue moons.
You can learn more about the meanings of these and other moon names — some of which are obvious, others not as much — in this thorough list by Business Insider's Rebecca Harrington.
