Brace yourself for the upcoming strawberry full moon

The next full moon will be on Monday morning, appearing “opposite” the sun (in Earth-based longitude) at 4.31am EDT, NASA Science reports. In South Africa, the full moon will show her face at 8.31am on Monday, reports Alberton Record.

The moon will appear full for about three days from Saturday night to Tuesday morning.

Since the 1930s when the Maine Farmer’s Almanac started using Native American names for the full moons, the full moon in June or the last full moon of spring (in the northern hemisphere) is known as the Strawberry Moon, a name universal to the Algonquin tribes. The name comes from the relatively short season for harvesting strawberries in northeastern North America.

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An old European name for this full moon is the Mead Moon or the Honey Moon. Mead is a drink created by fermenting honey mixed with water, sometimes with fruits, spices, grains or hops. The tradition of calling the first month of marriage the “honeymoon” dates back to at least the 1500s and may be tied to this full moon, either because of the custom of marrying in June or because the “Honey Moon” is the “sweetest” moon of the year.

It has been suggested that the time around the summer solstice on June 21 was when honey was ready to be harvested from hives or from the wild, which made this the “sweetest” moon.

Europeans also called this the Rose Moon. Some believe this name comes from the colour of the full moon at this time of year. The orbit of the moon around the earth is almost in the same plane as the orbit of the earth around the sun (only about 5 degrees off).

When the sun appears highest in the sky near the summer solstice, the full moon opposite the sun generally appears lowest in the sky. Particularly for Europe’s higher latitudes, the full moon nearest the summer solstice shines through more atmosphere than at other times of the year. This can give the full moon a reddish or rose colour for much the same reasons that a rising or setting sun appears red.