May - The Flower Moon

The name given to May's moon needs little explanation. May is a temperate month in many northern hemisphere countries, pleasantly warm and suddenly sunnier - and of course, blooming with flowers.

Bluebells, snapdragons, lilac, peonies, lily of the valley, tulips, wild garlic… May is arguably the most colourful month of the year in so many countries including North America, whose people first gave the moon this name.

Other Native American names for the May moon include Corn Planting Moon: a reminder of how we farmed before almanacks were invented. The award for the most appealing name for the May full moon must go to the Arapaho title, "Moon of the shedding ponies".

Over in Europe, we sometimes hear the name “Milk Moon”. This has nothing to do with the moon's pale colour! In Anglo Saxon, the word for May is "Þrimilcemōnaþ" ("Rimilcemona" in modern spelling), which means "three milkings month". Cows needed milking three times a day in May, and the old word survives in this name for the moon.

We also have "Mother's Moon" in European countries - again, a reference to this fertile time of year in nature and farming's calendars. We'll end May with another lovely old name, the Hare Moon. In Pagan cultures, the hare represented fertility and regeneration, and was associated with the moon: the myth of the "Moon Gazing Hare" comes from Pagan beliefs.