Get ready Victoria, May’s full ‘Flower Moon’ will peak over Vancouver Island this week!
This will be the last full moon of the spring season, and it has a wonderful name to complement this.
Although it reaches its peak brightness during the early morning hours of Thursday, May 23rd at around 6:50 a.m. PDT, it has been shining bright and near-full since Tuesday, May 21st.
And if the weather cooperates, and you’d rather not be up before 7 a.m., you should be able to soak in the moon’s glory tonight too, Wednesday, May 22nd!
Similar to all full moons, this one takes on many names, but according to NASA, the ‘Flower Moon’ is the most common—originating from the Algonquin tribes in what is now the north-eastern US.
Other names include the Corn or Corn Planting Moon, Buddha Jayanti or Buddha Purnima, Hare’s Moon and Milk Moon to name a few.
Milk Moon allegedly stems from 703 AD, when an English monk called St. Bede the Venerable wrote that what we know as ‘May’ used to be the ‘Three-Milkings Month,’ because cows needed to be milked three times a day during this time.
The May moon as Buddha Jayanti represents a holiday that’s said to have been traditionally observed by Buddhists in South Asia and Southeast Asia, as well as Tibet and Mongolia.
NASA writes that this holiday is sometimes informally referred to as the ‘Buddha’s Birthday.’
What do you refer to it as, Victoria?
Either way, make sure you soak up the lingering days of spring and honour this full moon by appreciating the blooming buds around us!
Written by Nevada Alde from Victoria Buzz
