Different astronomical events like a lunar eclipse, blue moon, super moon attracts not only stargazers but also commoners. We all witnessed one such event every year in June called the Strawberry Moon Lunar Eclipse. The term Strawberry Moon itself attracts stargazers. When I heard the term Strawberry Moon for the first time I was thrilled to watch the Strawberry moon.
What is Strawberry Moon?
The full moon in the month of June is termed as Strawberry moon. The Strawberry Moon does not resemble a strawberry or has its color. The term ‘Strawberry Moon’ originated in North America where June marks the beginning of the short strawberry season. Hence the natives here termed the full moon in the month of June as ‘Strawberry Moon’.
Strawberry Moon marks the start of the eclipse season. A lunar eclipse happens when the Sun, Earth, and moon line up in space, casting a shadow on the moon. There are three types of Lunar eclipse namely total, partial and penumbra.
Strawberry Moon is a penumbral lunar eclipse, meaning the moon will pass through an outer part of the Earth’s shadow know as penumbra, appearing to dim the lunar body’s brightness. The moon doesn’t get dark in the way it does during a total lunar eclipse, where it enters the umbra, the inner part of the Earth’s shadow. Instead, the moon appears just slightly darker in the night sky than usual, though most people likely won’t be able to tell a difference
I tried to captured the images of the moon during different time periods of the eclipse and indeed I was not able to tell the difference.
Strawberry Moon – Penumbra Lunar Eclipse @12.59 A.M IST
Other names for Strawberry Moon
Across the world strawberry Moon is also know with different names. Mead Moon, Rose Moon, Hot Moon, Honey Moon are a few of such names.
The term Rose Moon originated in Europe where June marks the blossoming of roses. It is also called Hot Moon as it marks the beginning of the summer heat.
As per a few old European writings, June was when honey was ripe and ready to be harvested. Then, a drink called Mead was made by mixing water with this fermented honey. This is how the June Full Moon was termed as Mead Moon or Honey Moon. Due to it being the season of honey harvesting, the moon was also referred to as sweetest moon.
The tradition of calling the first month of marriage the “honeymoon” may be tied to this full moon – either because the “Honey Moon” is the “sweetest” moon of the year, or because getting married in June is a custom.
For Hindus, the June full Moon corresponds with ‘Vat Purnima’. During the three days of this full Moon, married women pray for their husbands long life by tying a ceremonial thread around a banyan tree. The celebration is based on the legend of Savitri and Satyavan.
Traditional Full Moon Names
The term Strawberry Moon spiked my curiosity about the full moons names in other Months. So here is a list of theses full moon names.
- Wolf Moon – January
- Snow Moon – February
- Worm Moon – March
- Pink Moon – April
- Flower Moon – May
- Strawberry Moon – June
- Buck Moon – July
- Sturgeon Moon – August
- Harvest Moon – September or October
- Full Corn Moon (Harvest) – September
- Hunter’s Moon (Harvest) – October
- Beaver Moon – November
- Cold Moon – December
Happy stargazing 🙂
