November 2025 Full Beaver Moon

November’s full Beaver Moon occurs on Wednesday, November 5, 2025, at 8:19AM EST.  Unfortunately, the Moon has set and is well below the horizon by this time.  Not to worry! The Moon will still look round and bright when it rises later that evening at 5:04PM.  Native Americans were very in tune with nature and the changes that came with each season.  For them the full Moon was a marker of time and of the seasons.  They gave each full Moon a unique descriptive name based on what they observed taking place in the changing environment surrounding them.

The traditional full Moon names we use today, including Beaver Moon, originated with the Algonquin tribes that lived from New England to Lake Superior.  During this time of year beavers are quite active.  They’re preparing for winter – building up their lodges, storing food and growing thick warm winter coats.  This was also the time of year, before the water froze, when hunters trapped beaver for food and for their thick, warm, waterproof fur. The beaver was important to the Algonquin and many other tribes as it provided food and warm clothing for the coming winter.  It’s no wonder why they called this the Beaver Moon.  Although Beaver Moon is the traditional and best-known name for the November Moon other Native American tribes had different names. The Tlingit named it Digging Moon for animals digging and scratching at the ground for nuts and other food.  The Dakota and Lakota call this Moon the Deer Rutting Moon because deer are looking for mates.  And the Kiowa call this Moon the Geese Going Moon as geese migrate this time of year.  Other names describe the changing temperature.  The Cree, Choctaw, and Assiniboine call it the Frost Moon. The Ojibwe people call it the Freezing Moon.  The Abenaki call it the Freezing River Maker Moon.  And the Wishram call it the Snowy Mountains in the Morning Moon.

This Moon is the second of three consecutive supermoons this year and it will be the closest full Moon of the year – 221,817 miles from Earth at perigee.  “Supermoon” has become a trendy internet term for what astronomers call a perigee-syzygy full Moon.  Supermoons occur because the Moon’s orbit around the Earth is not a perfect circle – the orbit is elliptical or oval shaped.  So as the Moon orbits Earth its distance from Earth is constantly changing.   One more thing to understand is Earth isn’t centered in the middle of the Moon’s elliptical orbit instead its slightly closer to one end of the oval.  This is why the Moon has points in its orbit where its closest, called perigee, and farthest, called apogee, from Earth.  One more fun astronomical word – syzygy.  Syzygy is the term used when three or more celestial bodies line up.   We have syzygy when the Earth is between the Sun and the Moon giving us a full Moon.  When this happens at perigee it’s called perigee-syzygy or a supermoon!  To be considered a supermoon the Moon has to be very near – within 90% of reaching perigee or at perigee at full Moon.  Supermoons are a bit larger, about 7% larger, and a bit brighter, but these differences are so small the eye can’t see them.  Like all full Moons, they appear larger on the horizon because of the Moon illusion.

Take the time to enjoy a walk under the full Beaver Supermoon and enjoy all the natural world has to offer this time of year.