After 2020's first supermoon lit up the morning sky on Sunday 9 February, another is set to appear on Monday 9 March. It has been nicknamed the “worm moon†and is one of several supermoons set to appear in the first half of 2020 Why is this one called the Worm Moon? Our modern Moon-naming tradition has its roots in Native American culture. Giving each full moon a distinctive name was a key way of keeping track of the seasons, essentially breaking the year down into months. The same practice has been employed by people around the world for thousands of years. March’s full moon was known as the “Worm Moon†because this is the time of year when the soil would begin to thaw and earthworm casts would be visible on the ground again. This would then prompt birds to return to feed again, signalling the beginning of spring. Other tribes knew it as the “Crow Moonâ€, taking the cawing of the crows as their symbol that winter had ended. The Worm Moon is usually the last full moon before the winter equinox – marking the end of the cold, dark period of the year and the beginning of a new cycle in the natural world in cultures around the planet, it is associated with fertility and renewal. It can also be known as the “Sap Moon†as March is the time when the sap of sugar maples starts to flow again, or the “Lenten Moon†which comes from the German word for spring and is where we get the name for the Christian festival, Lent from.
