June - The Strawberry Moon

Welcome to sunny June, and what name could feel more appropriate than the "Strawberry Moon"? It's another of those beautiful Native American moon names that's been adopted worldwide. The wild strawberries ripen in June, giving the full moon near Midsummer its appealing name.

As ever, the Native Americans created some of the most wonderful names for the moon. "Full Leaf Moon", "Green Corn Moon" and "Berries Ripen Moon" all describe the season perfectly. The Arapaho name, "Moon when the buffalo bellows", refers to the start of the buffalo mating season.

The North American names are all identifiable to us in other northern hemisphere places; however, we have a few different names in Britain and Europe. We often call June the "Rose Moon", simply because roses bloom in June (and not to be confused with April's "Pink Moon"). It's also called the "Hot Moon'', an optimistic nod to the start of the warmer summer weather.

In Celtic lore, the moon closest to June's Summer Solstice is the "Mead Moon". It was celebrated with mead and festivities to promote fertility and prosperity, possibly related to today's "honeymoon".

Other Celtic names include the "Horse Moon" and "Dyan Moon". We're not sure about the horse reference (possibly June was seen as a foaling month?); however it's likely that "Dyan" comes from a word meaning "pair", and it's referring to the halfway point of the year at Midsummer.