Also called December full moon, Long Night Moon, Moon before Yule
The Cold Moon is the popular name for December's full moon, which falls near the winter solstice and rides higher and longer through the night than any other full moon of the year. Its rite is a long-night candle vigil for rest and steady light.
Tonight's moon is read when the page loads.
Take care: Keep any candle on a fireproof dish and never leave it burning unattended. If you go outside at night, dress for the weather, take a light and tell someone where you are. Moon names tied to specific Native nations belong to living languages and ceremonies. Read them as those nations' own knowledge, not as rites to copy; the steps here are an open seasonal practice anyone can do.
The almanac credits Long Night Moon to the Mohican, and Deanna Conway's 1995 book Moon Magick helped the name, or Long Night's Moon, spread among modern pagans. It fits the December full moon's place near the longest night.
Ojibwe language resources give December names such as Manidoo-giizisoons, Little Spirit Moon, and Big Winter Moon. The spirit moons of December and January belong to a ceremonial season best learned from Anishinaabe teachers.
The 1937 Maine Farmers' Almanac called the last moon of autumn the Moon before Yule, and the first moon of winter the Moon after Yule. These names tie the full moons to the old English midwinter feast.
The Old Farmer's Almanac attributes the Cold Moon name for December to the Mohawk, while Jonathan Carver's 1778 list used Cold Moon for January and called December the Hunting Moon. Either way the meaning is plain. Because a full moon sits opposite the sun, the December full moon near the solstice takes the high, long path the summer sun takes, staying above the horizon for most of the long night.
The almanac gathers other names for this moon, including Mid-Winter Moon for the Lakota and Northern Ojibwe, Moon of the Popping Trees for the Oglala, from trees cracking in hard frost, and Snow Moon for the Haida and Cherokee. In Europe the same season was marked by midwinter festivals of light, from Yule fires and evergreens to the candle crowns of St. Lucy's Day on December 13.
The feast of Saint Lucy on 13 December, once the longest night of the year under the old calendar. In Sweden and the rest of Scandinavia the eldest daughter, dressed in white with a crown of candles, wakes the household with coffee and saffron buns to carry light into the darkest time.
An evergreen wreath is a ring of fir, pine, holly or ivy hung on the door or laid flat with candles through the dark of winter. Its circle stands for unending life, and the Advent wreath with candles lit week by week began with a Hamburg pastor, Johann Hinrich Wichern, in 1839.
A modern release rite: write down what you want to let go of and burn the paper in a fireproof bowl, usually at year's end. Popularised by Unity churches in the twentieth century, with older relatives in New Year fire customs.
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