April: Pink Moon
The Full Moon in April is named the Pink Moon after the pink flowers that bloom in spring. Other names are Breaking Ice Moon, Budding Moon, Awakening Moon, Egg Moon, and Paschal Moon.
The Full Moon in April is known as the Pink Moon after blooming wildflowers.
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Times for the Pink Moon vary by time zone. Times and dates are based on the local time in Columbus. Change location
Named After Pink Flowers
The Pink Moon in April gets its name from pink wildflowers that bloom in the early spring. It is thought that the name comes from the brightly-colored pink phlox wildflowers that are native to North America and that often bloom around the time of April’s Full Moon.
The Native American names refer to the spring thaw and the signs of new growth each year—including names like the Breaking Ice Moon and The Moon of the Red Grass Appearing.
Common names in Europe also refer to the budding and birth of spring: with grass sprouting, birds laying eggs, and people planting seeds. The Celts had names like Budding Moon, New Shoots Moon, Seed Moon, and Growing Moon. A Neo-Pagan name is Awakening Moon.
The Anglo-Saxons called it Egg Moon, which is often referenced as a possible reason for the emergence of the modern Easter Bunny laying Easter eggs.
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It Can Be the Easter Moon
The Paschal Moon is the first Full Moon on or after March 21 and is used to determine the date of Easter.
In some years, the Paschal Moon is the Pink Moon; in others, it’s the Worm Moon (Full Moon in March). The dates for the Paschal Moon range from March 21 to April 18.
12 Full Moon Names
The Full Moon has been integral to tracking the change of months and seasons since ancient times.
Today, we use many of these ancient month names as Full Moon names, and many of them come from the Colonial Americans adopting Native American names into their calendars.
Although the most commonly used Full Moon names are English interpretations of Native American names, some are also Celtic, Anglo-Saxon, medieval English, and Neo-Pagan.