Why The Beaver Moon In November?

Beavers build their winter dams in November in preparation for the cold season and so this is why the November Full Moon is often called the Beaver Moon, which will rise on Tuesday 12 November.

Because beavers are mainly nocturnal they would keep working building their dams under the light of the Full Moon. Another reason for the name of Beaver Moon is that the Native American tribes used to set their traps at this time of year so that they would have plenty of fur to keep them warm in the winter months.

Depending on the winter solstice the November Full Moon can also be called Frost Moon as the first frosts on the ground usually appear in November.

Sharing the sky with the November Full Moon will be the planets Venus, Jupiter and Saturn.

There are a total of 12 full moon phases during the annual lunar cycle plus the occasional Blue Moon and each full moon has a unique name tied to the changing seasons, behaviour of the plants, animals, or weather during that month and reflects the landscape around us.

The names given to the Full Moons during the year are derived from the North American tribes who centuries ago kept track of the changing seasons by giving the Full Moons distinctive names depending on the time of year.

Traditional Full Moon Names - 2019:

January 21 – Wolf Moon

February 19 – Snow Moon

March 21 – Worm Moon

April 19 – Pink Moon

May 18 – Flower Moon

June 17 – Strawberry Moon

July 16 – Buck Moon

August 15 – Sturgeon Moon

September 14 – Full Corn Moon

October 13 – Hunter’s Moon

November 12– Beaver Moon

December 12 – Cold Moon

Blue Moon - Some years have an extra Full Moon which happens approximately every two or three years.

Let’s hope that the sky stays clear for us on Tuesday so that we can see the Beaver Moon, but do not despair as the full moon will be visible in the night sky for a few days around this time, through to Thursday morning.

The next Full Moon will rise on the 12 December 2019 and is called The Cold Moon.