State & Union: December’s Cold Moon appeared last night | CPT PPP Coverage

Why is the December full moon most commonly called the Cold Moon? It’s a Mohawk name that conveys the frigid conditions of this time of year, when cold temperatures truly begin to grip us — the unusually mild weather of late notwithstanding.

The Almanac explains that the moon names we use come from Native American, Colonial American or other traditional sources passed down through generations. A variety of Native American peoples traditionally used the monthly moons and nature’s corresponding signs as a calendar to track the seasons.

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).

This full Moon has also been called the Long Night Moon (Mohican), as it rises during the “longest” nights of the year, which are near the December winter solstice. This name is doubly fitting because December’s full Moon shines above the horizon for a longer period of time than most full Moons.

In Europe, ancient pagans called the December full Moon the “Moon Before Yule,” in honor of the Yuletide festival celebrating the return of the sun heralded by winter solstice.

With that in mind, the winter solstice is indeed fast approaching — it happens on Wednesday, Dec. 21.

This is the astronomical first day of winter in the Northern Hemisphere and the shortest day of the year.