February's Full Ash Moon

The full moon is rising over the old ash tree in my garden, and that is fitting, for one of the names worn by the full moon of this date is the Ash Moon. Other names connote winter and the hunger known by our ancestors at this (still dark) time of the year when their supplies of stored food were running low and game was scarce, but there are hopeful echoes here and there too, of hope and green things stirring in the ground beneath our feet and the Spring season which is already on its way. February moon names also sing of quickening, budding, birth and renewal. A few other names for this moon are:

Big Winter Moon, Bony Moon, Budding Moon, Chestnuts Moon, Cold Winds Moon, Coyote Frighten Moon, Crow Moon, Dark Red Calves Moon, Death Moon, Eagle Moon, Fish-running Moon, Frost Sparkling in the Sun Moon, Gray Moon, Horning Moon, Hunger Moon, Ice in River Is Gone Moon, Ice Moon, Little Bud Moon, Long Dry Moon, Makes Branches Fall in Pieces Moon, Mimosa Moon, Moon of Ice, Moon of Purification and Renewal, Moon of Rabbit Conception, Moon of the Cedar Dust Wind, Moon of the Raccoon, Moon of the Frog, Moon of Waters, Moon When Geese Come Home, Moon When the Bear Cubs are Born, Moon When the Spruce Tips Fall, Moon When Trees Pop, Moon When Trees Are Bare and Food Is Scarce, Narcissus Moon, No Snow in Trails Moon, Peach Blossom Moon, Pink Moon, Plum Blossom Moon, Primrose Moon, Quickening Moon, Raccoon Moon, Rain and Dancing Moon, Red and Cleansing Moon, Second Moon, Snow Crust Moon, Snow Moon, Sun Moon, Squint Rock Moon, Staying Home Moon, Storm Moon, Sucker Fish Moon, Sucker Moon, Trapper’s Moon, Treacherous Moon, Violet Moon, Wild Moon, Wind Moon, Wind Tossed Moon, Winter Moon