October - The Hunter's Moon

October's moon is often called by its Anglo Saxon name: the "Hunter's Moon". The late autumn days were spent preparing food and fuel for the winter, and this included making sure there was plenty of meat.

The last long (ish) days were the time to hunt game. Farming communities slaughtered and preserved the fattened pigs or sheep, hence the more graphic name for October's moon, the "Blood Moon" or "Sanguine Moon" (not to be confused with the other Blood Moon, which is the name for the red-coloured moon at the lunar eclipse).

Sometimes, October hosts the famous "Harvest Moon". This is the full moon closest to the Autumn Equinox (usually September 22), which falls in early October about every three years. Why is it called the Harvest Moon? Around the time of the Equinox, the moonrises are closer together. This creates brighter conditions for longer days harvesting the fields.

Other names for the October moon speak of the change of season. The Native Americans offer several variations of "Falling Leaves Moon" ("When the wind shakes off leaves", as the Lakota poetically put it). For the Mohawk, it's a bleak season: October is the "Time of poverty".